TY - JOUR AU - Moura, Mariela Dutra Gontijo AU - Gomes, Cristiano Mauro Assis AU - López de Blanc, Silvia AU - Mesquita, Ricardo Alves AU - Ferreria, Efigênia Ferreira e PY - 2018/10/30 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Dentists' perceptions of HIV/AIDS: psychometric properties of a first questionnaire for dentistry JF - Brazilian Journal of Oral Sciences JA - Braz. J. Oral Sci. VL - 17 IS - SE - Article DO - 10.20396/bjos.v17i0.8653821 UR - https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/bjos/article/view/8653821 SP - e18163 AB - <p>Aim: The present study outlines the testing the first questionnaire to the field of dentistry to evaluate dentists' perceptions of HIV/AIDS, and its psychometric properties. Methods: A first questionnaire developed to evaluate dentists' perceptions of HIV/AIDS at this cross-sectional study contained 33 items in its original version. Randomly subsample of 251 Argentine dentists was invited to participate in the study. A four-factor structure (Transmission, Oral Manifestations, Dentists’ practice, and Infection Controls) was tested through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, as well reliability was assessed. Results: The deletion of eight items from the original questionnaire improved the goodness of fit for the instrument. The retained 25 items revealed an acceptable reliability (internal consistency of 0.68), while the four factors revealed a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.53 for Transmission factor items, 0.71 for Oral Manifestations factor items, 0.59 for Dentists’ Practice factor items, and 0.48 for Infection Controls factor items. Higher scores were observed on the Oral Manifestations factor items, but convergent and discriminant validity was compromised for the others factors. Conclusions: The findings presented here demonstrate the value of this first questionnaire with 25 items as a starting point for further inquiry. However, it would be desirable to add more items and a replication of the questionnaire is suggested to determine the stability of its psychometric properties.</p> ER -