OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to develop and validate a questionnaire to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAPs) related to ageism among dentists in Brazil, with a focus on the dental care of older adults. METHODS: This is a quantitative, exploratory, descriptive, and cross-sectional study. The development and validation of the KAP-Ageism Scale for Dentists (KAP-ASD) instrument followed four stages: (1) the questionnaire was developed on the basis of a scoping literature review of the construct to be assessed; (2) content validity was evaluated by five experts who reviewed the initial draft for language clarity, practical relevance, and theoretical significance; (3) the questionnaire was administered to the target population, Brazilian dentists, to collect data; and (4) EFA results were used to refine the instrument, providing evidence of its validity and reliability for the final version. RESULTS: The instrument initially had 27 items, which were reduced to 25 after expert review. Following the EFA, the questionnaire was reduced to 13 items across 3 factors: Knowledge, attitudes, and practices. The final structure explained 57.9% of the total variance. Reliability indices, along with data adjustments, indicate that the final version of the questionnaire has good internal consistency. CONCLUSION: While the KAP-ASD requires further refinement due to several identified limitations, it was shown to be a valid and reliable tool suitable for use in geriatric dentistry research.
Aranha et al. (Wed,) studied this question.