Development and psychometric properties of an assessment tool for children with challenging behaviors aged 3 - 6 years
Keywords:
inventory, psychometric properties, early childhood, difficult childAbstract
Objective: To develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of the assessment form for difficult children aged 3 - 6 years.
Methods: The assessment tool was developed based on functional emotional developmental and neurodevelopmental theories. The content validity was checked by finding the index of item-objective congruence (IOC) from five experts. The reliability was determined by the internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and corrected item-total correlation (CITC). The stability was assessed using the test-retest method. The construct validity was tested among the parents or primary caregivers of children aged 3 - 6 years using exploratory factor analysis (EFA).
Results: The draft version of an assessment consisted of 50 items, categorized into six aspects of child characteristics; the easy child, the sensitive child, the self-absorbed child, the defiant child, the inattentive child, and the active child. It had IOC between 0.6 - 1.00, the CITC between 0.28 - 0.81, and the test-retest correlation between 0.60 - 0.89 (p < .001). The EFA among 367 participants revealed that 33 items were retained, with the full scale and subscale Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.83 and between 0.72 - 0.91, respectively.
Conclusion: The assessment form for difficult children is psychometrically sound, with favorable validity and high internal consistency.
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