Psychometric properties of the Albanian language version of the OHIP-ALB49 Questionnaire in the Republic of Kosovo.

The aim of the study was to develop and to test psychometric properties of the Albanian language version of the Oral Health Impact Questionnaire (OHIP-ALB49) in the new typical cultural context. The construct validity was tested: the convergent validity was tested on 389 subjects (general population (n = 119), removable prosthodontic patients (n = 213) and students (n = 57)), and the discriminative validity was tested in edentulous patients wearing dentures (CDWs) (n = 180) and edentulous patients having no dentures at all (n = 33). The test-retest reliability was tested on 57 subjects (27 dental students and 30 complete denture wearers), the internal consistency on 389 subjects, and the responsiveness on 33 patients with a treatment demand (complete dentures). The significant association between the OHIP summary scores and the self-reported oral health (p < 0.001) confirmed the convergent validity. The discriminative validity was confirmed by significant difference between the CDWs and the edentulous subjects without any dentures. The test-retest reliability was confirmed by high intraclass correlation coefficients and no significant differences between the two administrations (p > 0.05). The internal consistency showed high Cronbach's alpha (0.94 in general population and in prosthodontic patients, 0.96 in the student group). The responsiveness was confirmed by the statistically significant difference between the mean OHIP score at the baseline and the follow-up (p < 0.001) and by the high effect size (2.19 for the OHIP Summary Score) in the edentulous patients with a treatment demand). The psychometric properties of the OHIP-ALB49 prove that the instrument is suitable for the assessment of the Oral Health Related Quality of Life in Kosovo.