Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42539030›Full record

ArticleResearch square2026

Psychometric analysis of the Oral Health Behavior Social Support Short Form scales (OHBSS-SF) among Mexican-American adults.

Tracy L Finlayson, Cristian Garcia-Alcaraz, Vanessa L Malcarne, Guadalupe X Ayala, Kristin S Hoeft, Mark Ryder, Stuart A Gansky, Lourdes S Martinez, Melody K Schiaffino, Erin Dougherty and 2 more

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Article in Research square, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Tracy L FinlaysonSchool of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA.
Cristian Garcia-AlcarazSan Diego State University/University of California San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology.
Vanessa L MalcarneSan Diego State University/University of California San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology.
Guadalupe X AyalaSchool of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA.
Kristin S HoeftSchool of Dentistry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA (majority of work done at UCSF).
Mark RyderSchool of Dentistry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA (majority of work done at UCSF).
Stuart A GanskySchool of Dentistry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA (majority of work done at UCSF).
Lourdes S MartinezSchool of Communication, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA.
Melody K SchiaffinoUniversity of California San Diego School of Medicine (majority of work done while affiliated with 1 & 2), La Jolla, California, USA.
Erin DoughertyEl Rio Health, Tuscon, Arizona, USA.
Nannette StammVista Community Clinic, Vista, California, USA.
Gerardo MaupoméRichard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

Funding

COORDINATING CENTER TO HELP ELIMINATE/REDUCE ORAL HEALTH INEQUALITIES IN CHILDRENU01DE025507 · NIDCR · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI GANSKY, STUART A · 2015 to 2020
$11.9M
Building Capacity and Infrastructure for Population Health and Health Disparities Research at San Diego State UniversityS21MD010690 · NIMHD · SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY · PI AYALA, GUADALUPE X, CASTILLO, JOSE E · 2016 to 2020
$10.0M
Developing an Oral Health Behavior Social Support Scale for Mexican-origin AdultsR01DE026742 · NIDCR · SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY · PI FINLAYSON, TRACY LEE · 2017 to 2020
$2.9M
NIDCR NIH HHS R01 DE026742NIDCR NIH HHS U01 DE025507NIMHD NIH HHS S21 MD010690
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Social support is an important psychosocial resource that can facilitate engaging in healthy behaviors, including oral health behaviors. Nine scales assessing Oral Health Behavior Social Support (OHBSS) for brushing, flossing and seeking dental care were developed and validated in the English and Spanish languages. The full-length scales included 37 required items to assess social support from three sources: family, health providers, and others/friends. The OHBSS-SF scales cover three oral health behaviors, use six items each to assess social support for brushing, flossing and dental care, and retain the nine-scale structure. Response options range from one (never) to four (always), with higher scores reflecting more frequent receipt of social support. This paper describes the item reduction process/outcomes and presents model fit indices and psychometric properties of the 17-item OHBSS-Short Form (OHBSS-SF) scales. Methods: A large Mexican-American young adult sample completed an online survey in English or Spanish (N=502). Participants completed the OHBSS-SF along with several other validated scales assessing general social support, dental fear, and acculturation. The survey also queried oral health behaviors of interest and socio-demographic characteristics. A subset of participants (n=56) also completed the OHBSS-SF items a second time two to six weeks later to assess test-retest reliability. Model fit indices and psychometric properties for each of the nine OHBSS-SF scales were calculated for the full sample and subgroups stratified by the three study design characteristics of language (English/Spanish), sex (male/female), and marital status (single/married). Results: The OHBSS-SF scales correlated very highly with the full-length versions (r=0.95-0.98), and all OHBSS-SF scales exhibited acceptable model fit indices. The OHBSS-SF demonstrated stability in the full sample and in Spanish, with good to excellent intra-class correlations, supporting test-retest reliability. Patterns of moderate correlations supported convergent validity with validated general social support measures. Patterns of weak correlations suggested divergent validity between OHBSS-SF and other non-social support measures. Conclusions: The OHBSS-SF demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties. A few significant differences by subgroup characteristics were identified. The OHBSS-SF scales reduce respondent burden and are a useful tool to ascertain frequency of receipt of oral health behavior social support from family, health providers, and other/friend sources.

Indexed as

brushingdental care utilizationflossingMexican-Americanoral healthoral hygienePsychometric propertiesscale validationshort scalesocial support

Identifiers

PMID42539030
PMCPMC13419575

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.