A Swedish version of the Dental Visit Satisfaction Scale

Abstract

The aims of this study were to translate and analyze the Dental Visit Satisfaction Scale (DVSS), which has been developed to measure different aspects of the dentist-patient relationship in the view of the patient. Subjects were ordinary dental patients attending dental care in various public dental service clinics (PDS) and patients attending an emergency PDS clinic and an oral medicine clinic (n = 204). Consecutively, patients were asked to answer a questionnaire that consisted of the DVSS and information about dental anxiety, age, and gender. The results revealed similar DVSS item/sum of scores levels as those in previous studies. There was no significant difference with respect to gender. High dental anxiety was associated with low DVSS score. Three dimensions were found in the exploratory factor analysis: Information/communication, Understanding/acceptance, and Technical competence. Item 8 was found to have skewed properties according to correlation, reliability, and factor analysis. A confirmatory factor analysis with the 9-item DVSS (item 8 removed) revealed a model with 4 dimensions. A general dental satisfaction factor was found, loading on all 9 items, together with the above-mentioned, more narrow factors.