Cross‐Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Validation of Dental Communication Tools in Brazil and Canada

ABSTRACT Purpose To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Patient Communication Assessment Instrument (PCAI) and Student Communication Assessment Instrument (SCAI) across Portuguese and English in Brazilian and Canadian dental clinics. Methods This cross‐sectional, cross‐cultural validation study involved dental students ( N = 436) completing the SCAI and their patients ( N = 1220) completing the PCAI. A standardized forward‐backward translation process was used to adapt the instruments to Brazilian Portuguese, establishing semantic, idiomatic, and conceptual equivalence. Independent and pooled exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) were performed to assess structural validity, while Cronbach's alpha evaluated internal reliability. Results EFAs consistently identified a robust and replicable three‐factor structure—Caring, Sharing, and Comfort—across both Brazilian Portuguese and Canadian English cohorts, explaining 44.1% to 70.5% of the variance. While the core factor structures were highly congruent, factor composition showed subtle cultural variations reflecting localized communication norms. Cronbach's alphas were excellent across all domains, ranging from 0.936 to 0.968 for the PCAI in Brazil, from 0.943 to 0.957 in Canada, and from 0.870 to 0.915 for the SCAI in Brazil and from 0.908 to 0.935 in Canada. Conclusion Both the PCAI and SCAI demonstrate cross‐culturally stable validity and reliability for evaluating therapeutic communication in dental education. Subtle cultural variations suggest the potential value of culturally adaptive communication training, helping educators prepare students for diverse patient populations.