Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Persian Version of American Dental Education Association (ADEA) tool on action on professionalism in dental education

Background Professional commitment refers to the ability to meet the legitimate expectations of patients, which involves acquiring the necessary skills to perform one's profession while also being attentive to others and effectively managing situations in their best interests. The aim of this study was to psychometrically evaluate the Persian version of the American Dental Education Agency (ADEA) Tool for Action on Professionalism in Dental Education to develop an appropriate tool for assessing the characteristics of professionalism in Iranian dental students.. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted with 459 dental students in their second to sixth years at the Shiraz School of Dentistry during the 2024–2025 academic year. The study aimed to assess the professional values in dental education using a Persian-translated version of the ADEA Professional Questionnaire, which comprises 31 items categorized into six factors: competence, fairness, honesty, responsibility, respect, and willingness to serve. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was confirmed through test-retest reliability and Cronbach's alpha. The study also evaluated sample adequacy using the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) index and Bartlett's test of sphericity, while construct validity was assessed through various fit indices, including CMIN/DF, RMSEA, CFI, TLI, IFI, and NFI. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 24 and Lisrel version 8.5, ensuring a comprehensive evaluation of the professional values among dental students. Results The content validity ratio (CVR) for the questionnaire was calculated to be 0.89, while the content validity index (CVI) exceeded 0.90 for individual questions and reached 0.98 for the entire questionnaire. Reliability was confirmed through a test-retest correlation study, yielding a high correlation coefficient (r = 0.927) across all questions and subdomain scores. Internal consistency was also strong, with Cronbach's alpha values surpassing 0.70, culminating in a value of 0.932 for the overall questionnaire. Factor analysis identified six components with eigenvalues greater than 1, explaining 65.385% of the total variance. Additionally, various fit indices indicated appropriate construct validity, including a CMIN/DF of 1.42, an RMSEA of 0.03, and a CFI value of 0.95, all within the excellent range. The IFI is likewise 0.95, with the TLI at 0.94 and the NFI at 0.93, all falling within the acceptable range. Overall, the analysis indicates that the Persian version of the ADEA tool demonstrates reliability and validity as a measurement instrument. Conclusions Considering that the validity and reliability indices of the Persian version of the Professionalism in Dental Education Questionnaire have all been reported as satisfactory, this version can be utilized as a reliable and effective tool for behavioral research and the assessment of Iranian dental students' competencies.