Young Swedish adults' views on measures of oral health related quality of life

The aim of the study was to describe Swedish young adults’ views on three measures of OHRQOL. Background: Many measures have been developed to estimate the impact of oral health on quality of life (OHRQOL). However no measure has been especially developed för young adults. This study describes how young adults consider the appropriateness of three available validated and translated measures of OHRQOL. Methods: The study had a qualitative approach. Sixteen informants (eight woman and eight men) aged 21-29 years were interviewed during 2010-2011 about their views on the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP), the Oral Health-Related Quality of Life-UK (OHRQoL-UK) and the Oral Impacts on Daily Performances (OIDP). The sampling of informants was strategic with reference to age (21-25 yrs, 26-29 yrs), education (compulsory school vs more). Two of the measures were sent to the informants two weeks before the day for the interview, and they were asked to fill in and bring them to the interview. The third measure (OIDP) was presented and the informants answered it orally in connection with the interview. Data was collected by thematic, open-ended interviews. The data analysis was performed by manifest and latent content analysis. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Lund University, Lund, Sweden (Dnr 209/124). Results: The informants considered the measures to contain relevant and important aspects concerning the oral health related quality of life in young adults. The questionnaires were not to time-consuming to fill in. Furthermore, the young adults were most concerned about their oral health and especially the aesthetics. Conclusions: The content in the analysed measures was deemed relevant to the informants but highlighting aspects important to the agegroup would be useful for research and in clinical praxis. Acknowledgements: The study was supported by Malmö University, Malmö and Halmstad University, Halmstad, Sweden.