Aesthetic dermatology and emotional well-being questionnaire.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: In recent years, there has been a great development of esthetic dermatology as a subspecialty of dermatology. It is important to know to which extent the general population regard this branch of medical surgical specialty as being of interest and contributing to emotional well-being. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the technical features of a questionnaire which has been designed to reflect such perception of the general population about esthetic dermatology and its contribution to emotional well-being. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Production and psychometric analysis of a self-filled in questionnaire in relation to esthetic dermatology and emotional well-being (DEBIE). This questionnaire is made of 57 items and has been applied to a sample of 770 people within the general population. The drawing-up process of the questionnaire is described to provide content validity. Items analysis was carried out together with exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to assess the structure and construct validity of the tool. The extent of internal consistency (reliability) and concurrent validity has also been verified. RESULTS: DEBIE questionnaire (Spanish acronym for Aesthetic Dermatology and Emotional Well-being) revolves around six factors explaining 53.91% of the variance; there is a high level of internal consistency (Cronbach's α 0.90) and reasonable criterion validity. CONCLUSIONS: DEBIE questionnaire brings together adequate psychometric properties that can be applied to assess the perception that the general population have in relation to esthetic dermatology and its contribution to their emotional well-being.