Journal de psychologie et psychothérapie
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Development and Validation of a Socio-Dental Impact Locus of Control (SILOC) Scale

Shashidhar Acharya, Kalyana Chakravarthy Pentapati, Deepak Kumar Singhal, Arun Singh Thakur and Shruthi Acharya

Purpose: To develop a Socio-Dental Impact Locus of Control Scale (SILOC) and to study its relationship with oral health status as well as dental attendance.

Materials and methods: In the pilot study, 100 students returned completed forms containing the Multi Dimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC) and the (SILOC) scale. In the main study, 509 adolescent school children from three schools returned completed forms containing the SILOC scale and were examined for oral health status and dental attendance.

Results: The SILOC scores highly correlated with the MHLC scores. A Cronbach’s alpha of 0.75 showed its internal consistency. Those with higher SILOC scores had greater levels of caries, plaque, gingivitis, and a history of postponing needed dental visits. Multiple logistic regression analysis after adjusting for potential confounders showed that those with high SILOC scores were more likely to be having caries (OR=3.32, p<0.001), plaque (OR=1.83, p=0.026), gingivitis (OR=1.80, p=0.012) and a history of ‘Postponement of needed dental treatment’ (OR=4.5, p<0.001) as compared to the others.

Conclusion: The SILOC scale showed satisfactory reliability and validity in measuring Locus of Control orientation in relation to socio-dental impacts in an Indian adolescent population.