Conception of an endodontics questionnaire in undergraduate dental education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to create a valid assessing instrument using a set of questions to examine preclinical dental education in endodontics. For this reason, we constructed the "German Endodontology Questionnaire" (GEndoQ), which assesses preclinical dental education in endodontics. In recent years and decades, various curricula in preclinical and clinical endodontic education have been evaluated at both national and international levels and the results published. However, the conception of the questionnaires that have been used have never been discussed or published. The GEndoQ was constructed in fi ve phases using the Delphi technique. In the fi rst phase, the questionnaire was generated according to former questionnaires and publications through the fi rst Delphi round and divided into 10 categories. In phases two and three, different expert panellists, such as specialists in endodontology and attendants of a master's degree programme in endodontology, used the Delphi technique to confi rm the content validity of GEndoQ. The newest literature was implemented in phase four. In phase fi ve, GEndoQ was fi nally completed after multiple abbreviations were included following feedback from the expert panellists who employed the think-aloud method. Within the fi ve phases, GEndoQ Version 5 was created comprising 49 questions in nine categories. This was done using different answer options. The Likert scale with six possible options to choose from was used the most: 1= don't agree at all; 2= don't agree; 3= undecided; 4= agree; 5= fully agree, 6= don't know. Seven questions could be answered in a free text format, while fi ve questions were in a single-choice format, such as yes/no answers. The GEndoQ is a valid instrument for assessing preclinical dental education in endodontics. Future research will focus on further refi ning and validating the instrument, for example, within a pilot test. Additionally, the questionnaire should be translated into English and validated to make comparisons among international dental faculties easier.