Attitudes of Peruvian dentist about rubber dam isolation. Design and validation of a scale in COVID-19 times

Abstract

Introduction: Ruber dam isolation is a dental procedure that guarantees the biosafety and the quality of the restorative treatments; however, doesn't exist an appropriate instrument to evaluate on the topic in the Peruvian reality. Aim: To design and to validate a scale for evaluating the attitudes of Peruvian dentist about rubber dam isolation. Materials and Methods: Technology development study. The scale was administered through social networks to 279 dentists (143 females and 136 males) from a non-probabilistic purposive sampling, whose ages ranged between 22 and 67 years. Results: Aiken's V coefficient values were favorable for all items. Exploratory factor analysis indicated the existence of a single factor. Confirmatory factor analysis suggested eliminating items 1 and 7. The reliability of the scale was good and was calculated with Cronbach's α coefficient=0.71. Conclusion: The scale on the attitudes of Peruvian dentist about rubber dam isolation (Act- AA-Cov19) is a brief, valid and reliable measure that can be used for research purposes.