Children's dental fear picture test (CDFP): a projective test for the assessment of child dental fear.

Abstract

A projective method, the Children's Dental Fear Picture test (CDFP), for measuring child dental fear was developed and tested for reliability in 146 Swedish children aged 5 to 12-years-old. The CDFP consists of three subtests: the Dental Setting Pictures (CDFP-DS), the Pointing Pictures (CDFP-PP), and a Sentence Completion test (CDFP-SC). Assessments of dental fear were made in each of the subtests as well as for the complete test (CDFP). Based on the assessments, the children were grouped into three categories: "fearful", "non fearful"c and "uncertain". The proportion of agreements between assessments of subtests and final assessment (CDFP) varied from 77.4 percent to 89.0 percent. Interexaminer reliability was computed from 27 testings assessed separately by two trained dentists. Full agreement in the final assessments (CDFP) was found between the dentists in 88.9 percent of the testings, indicating that the CDFP is a reliable method for measuring child dental fear.