Preliminary Psychometric Properties Research Articles

Development and Initial Validation of the Transportation Support Scale.

Driving cessation affects older drivers and, possibly, also care partners (most of whom tend to be women). Although tools exist to assess the effects on family and friends of providing informal care to someone who needs assistance, no tool is available to clinicians that specifically focuses on the effects of driving cessation. To develop the Transportation Support Scale (TSS) to measure care partners' responses-both negative and positive-to driving cessation and assuming transportation responsibilities. We developed a list of 98 items to capture the impact on care partners of providing transportation to older adults who have stopped driving. In Phase 1, we pretested the items qualitatively with a small sample of care partners. In Phase 2, we reduced the number of items and examined several psychometric properties of the TSS with a larger sample. Community. Two convenience samples of care partners who provide transportation (Phase 1, n = 11; Phase 2, n = 66). The initial pool of items was reduced from 98 to 22. The final TSS has an internal consistency of .88 (Cronbach's α). Thirty-five percent of care partners' scores fell above the middle possible score; these care partners were likely experiencing a high negative impact related to providing transportation after driving cessation. The TSS demonstrated adequate preliminary psychometric properties. We need additional research to further evaluate the psychometric properties of the TSS (e.g., test-retest reliability). A fully validated TSS may be useful to clinicians and researchers. What This Article Adds: The TSS has the potential to help clarify the perspective of care partners as well as inform the development and evaluation of services for care partners who are providing transportation to former drivers.

Development of the Observable Well-Being in Living With Dementia-Scale.

The Observable Well-being in Living with Dementia-Scale was developed to address conceptual and methodological issues in current observational scales for music therapy. Creative interventions may receive lowered scores, as existing instruments rely heavily on verbal behavior. Methods were (1) Systematic review of observational instruments: (2) field work with music therapy and sociable interactions to operationalize the items; (3) field testing assessing feasibility and preliminary psychometric properties; (4) focus groups with experts to investigate content validity; (5) final field test and revision. 2199 OWLS-ratings were conducted in 11 participants. Hypotheses of construct validity and responsiveness were supported (r = .33 -.65). Inter-rater reliability was good (84% agreement between coders, Cohen's Kappa = .82), and intra-rater reliability was excellent (98% agreement, Cohen's Kappa = .98). Focus groups with 8 experts supported the relevance of the items and suggested further refinements to increase comprehensiveness. The final field-tested OWLS showed improved inter-rater reliability and usability.

French Version of the Musculoskeletal Pain Intensity and Interference Questionnaire for Professional Orchestra Musicians (MPIIQM-F): Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Preliminary Validation.

The Musculoskeletal Pain Intensity and Interference Questionnaire for Professional Orchestra Musicians (MPIIQM) is a prominent patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) in the musicians' health literature. It has been published in at least four languages, but not in French. To cross-culturally adapt the MPIIQM into French and establish the preliminary psychometric properties (validity, reliability, and responsiveness) of the MPIIQM-F. Standardized cross-cultural adaptation methods included forward translations, an expert committee, and verbal field tests in the target population. Psychometric properties were assessed in a population of French-speaking professional orchestra musicians who participated in three evaluation sessions. Evaluated properties include content, face, structural and construct validity, reliability (internal consistency, test-retest reliability, minimal detectable change [MDC], measurement error), and responsiveness (effect size and standardized response means [SRM]). Sixty-one French-speaking orchestra musicians participated in the psychometric validation. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-factor solution equivalent to previous versions, confirming the Pain Intensity and Interference subscales. Spearman correlations for construct validity were as hypothesized for four of six hypotheses (minor deviances for the other two hypotheses) using the Brief Pain Inventory, Disability of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand Performing Arts Module, and PROMIS Global Health Scale as comparators. Reliability results demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach's a=0.84-0.89), excellent test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.91-0.97), and small measurement error with MDC for the overall scale <10%. Responsiveness resulted in moderate to large effect sizes and SRM (0.54-0.87). Preliminary validation of the MPIIQM-F suggests good validity, reliability, and responsiveness, indicating its suitability for use in French-speaking orchestra musicians.

Development and Validation of the Questionnaire for Adaptive Hyperactivity and Goal Achievement (AHGA).

This paper illustrates the preliminary psychometric properties of the Questionnaire for Adaptive Hyperactivity and Goal Achievement (AHGA), aimed at measuring adaptive characteristics of hyperactivity and goal pursuit in older adults. The 12-item scale was administered to a sample of 120 subjects (older adults) between February 2022 and June 2022. The reliability of AHGA was measured using Cronbach's alpha, and factor structure was established using parallel analysis (PA) and principal component analysis (PCA). Convergent validity was tested against the Biological Rhythms Interview of Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (BRIAN). All included subjects have an average age of 74.1±5.1 years. AHGA reliability was good (Cronbach's alpha: 0.713 [95%CI: 0.630 to 0.783]). Factor analysis suggested two main components: goal achievement and hyperactivity, which explained 41% of the variance in the data. The results support the convergent validity of the scale: AHGA measures adaptive characteristics of hyperactivity and goal pursuit, in contrast to BRIAN, which measures pathological characteristics. The reported findings represent an innovative approach to hyperthymic features by embracing a broader spectrum concept that conceptualizes the potential transition between pathological and adaptive aspects as a continuum.

Development and psychometric properties of a measurement to ascertain the impact of genitourinary symptoms on health-related quality of life in menopausal women: the Cervantes-GSM questionnaire.

The Cervantes-GSM questionnaire is a novel tool currently being developed to examine the impact of genitourinary symptoms on health-related quality of life in adult women with genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM). A literature review and cognitive debriefing were conducted in women with GSM, which provided the basis for creating a draft questionnaire. This draft version was pilot-tested to check participant comprehension and ease of completion. The initial draft was then refined to obtain a 15-item version with five domains whose initial psychometric properties were analyzed in 130 adult women with GSM. The psychometric properties tested in this study were factorial structure, feasibility, reliability, and construct validity. The Cervantes-GSM 15-item questionnaire consists of five domains: vulvovaginal symptoms, urinary symptoms, psychological (emotions), interference with daily activities, and sexuality. The instrument was shown to be feasible and easy to complete, regardless of age or educational level. Internal consistency was high (Cronbach α = 0.88). Construct validity was supported by convergent-divergent validity showing higher correlation coefficients between items in their own domain (>0.70) than with the other items and domains in the questionnaire. Cervantes-GSM also showed known group validity with significant differences in total score and most domains (13-20 points, P < 0.01) regardless of whether women chose local treatment of their genitourinary symptoms. This study presents a novel questionnaire capable of assessing health-related quality of life in menopausal women with GSM. The tool has shown acceptable preliminary psychometric properties, including feasibility, factor structure, construct validity, and internal consistency.

Music therapy in psychiatric units: evaluating its effectiveness

IntroductionResearch shows the benefits of music therapy for various mental health conditions, including depression, trauma, and schizophrenia. Music acts as a medium for processing emotions, trauma, and grief.Playing instruments can encourage emotional expression, socialization and exploration of various therapeutic themes (i.e. conflict, communication, grief, etc.).Group music therapy, measured by questionnaires and described in qualitative interviews, improved quality of life and self-esteem for people with severe mental illness (SMI).Group singing and song writing provide creative options for social connections. Music therapy should be considered as a component of holistic care for people with SMI. Jungup Lee, Thyer BA. May 2013Journal of Human Behaviour in the Social Environment 23(5):597-609ObjectivesMusic therapy sessions are held in our hospital for people admitted to short-term hospitalization units and to psychosocial rehabilitation units. The goal of the sessions is to create a connection space, promote people’s confidence in their own resources for their recovery, and evoke valuable experiences and memories. Sometimes musicians from the community have been present in the sessions, contributing to overcoming the stigma towards mental illness.MethodsWe describe self-assessment of people admitted to psychiatric units after attending music therapy sessions. People from brief hospitalization unit filled out a survey, after each session, voluntarily, about their emotional state at the beginning of the session and after it. People from rehabilitation units, voluntarily filled the SRS V.3.0. 2002-Miller. Duncan &amp; Johnson escale.The SRS was designed for use by clinicians to assess the therapeutic alliance during therapy (Duncan BL et al. The Session Rating Scale: Preliminary Psychometric Properties of a “Working” Alliance Measure JBT 3(1) 3-12 12/14/04 3:53 PM Page 3).Results23 sessions took place for each unit. 39 patients from brief hospitalization, 22 women and 17 men, attended the sessions. 15 had a diagnosis of schizophrenia and related disorders, 13 were affective disorders, and 11 others diagnosis. All of them liked the participation either fully or partially. 76% men and 77% women felt better after, none of them reported to feel worse. 82% men and 86% women replied they would repeat the session.Patients from rehabilitation units were 7 women and 10 men. 14 had a schizophrenia related disorder and 3 had bipolar disorder. All items on the scale were scored above 9 over 10, (I felt heard, understood, and respected/ We worked on and talked about what I wanted to work on and talk about/ The therapist’s approach is a good fit for me) with an overall score of 9,62 over 10 (Overall, today’s session was right for me).ConclusionsMusic therapy sessions achieve benefits on an emotional level in any of the diagnoses, improving alliance with care teams, who value sessions as normalizing spaces, helping to overcome stigma.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Assessing reasons for limiting heavy drinking among college students: development and preliminary analysis

ABSTRACT Background Existing measures of reasons for limiting alcohol use are over 30 years old or don’t distinguish between limiting drinking/abstinence and limiting heavy drinking. The present study describes the development and evaluation of the Reasons for Limiting Heavy Drinking (RFLHD), a 15-item measure assessing reasons to limit heavy drinking. Method Participants were 591 college students from two southern universities identifying primarily as White (68%) and female (82.3%) who completed the RFLHD, Protective Behavioral Strategies Survey-20, US-Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test Consumption scale, and the Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire. Results Exploratory factor analyses supported a two-factor solution – Avoiding Consequences (i.e., limiting use to reduce alcohol related negative consequences) and – Personal and Other’s Values (i.e., limiting use in accordance with personal, or other people’s values, regarding alcohol consumption). Generally, the RFLHD was negatively correlated with measures of alcohol use measures and positively correlated with measures of alcohol harm reduction. Conclusion The RFLHD displayed promising preliminary psychometric properties in this study. Harm reduction interventions aimed at the behavioral component of alcohol use may benefit from using the RFLHD to examine cognitive motivations for limiting heavy drinking. Further investigation of the RFLHD is needed to advance the measure.

Brazilian Portuguese version of the Subjective Time Questionnaire (STQ-BP): cultural adaptation and preliminary psychometric properties

Introduction: Time awareness has been associated with many relevant outcomes in Mental Health. The Subjective Time Questionnaire (STQ) is a self-report scale with 26 items that assess the subjective judgment of different time lengths. Objective: This study aimed to translate, adapt and validate the STQ to Brazilian Portuguese. Methods: The translation and adaptation processes followed the guidelines of the International Test Commission (ITC). Ten experts compared the first translated version with the original scale. After a review, 446 participants (66.1% women) answered the STQ. Reliability and factor structure were investigated. Results: The average equivalence between the experts’ evaluation was 69.3%. Twenty-one items showed correlations with the total score ranging from 0.250 to 0.641. A Principal Component Analysis found 6 dimensions (eigenvalues &gt; 1). In contrast, the Exploratory Factor Analysis showed a three-factor solution with 10 items. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis supported this structure (RMSEA = 0.049; CFI = 0.991; TLI = 0.987). The Cronbach's Alpha for the final version was 0.696 and ranged from 0.643 to 0.825 for the factors. Conclusion: The three-factor solution suggested an adequate model. The reliability was marginally acceptable and in accordance with sparse previous findings. Overall, the results provided initial evidences of the validity and reliability for the STQ Brazilian Portuguese version.

Пилотажная оценка и предварительные психометрические свойства русскоязычной версии шкалы Светлой триады

Background. The concept of the Light Triad as the direct opposite of the Dark Triad, was developed to describe a healthy, prosperous personality and is operationalized in the Light Triad Scale (LTS), which measures three “light” personality traits: faith in humanity, or belief in the fundamental nature of human goodness; humanism, or belief in the worth and dignity of each person; and Kantianism, or treating people as self-valuable individuals. The original LTS is psychometrically sound and widely used for scientific and practical purposes. Objective. The aim of this study was to pilot and analyze the preliminary psychometric properties of the Russian version of the LTS. Methods. The participants (n = 300; aged 16 to 56) completed the Russian version of the LTS and instruments measuring subjective happiness, subjective vitality, Dark Triad and Big Five traits. Results. Confirmatory factor analysis, after excluding items with weak factor loadings, revealed a three-­factor structure assessing the Light Triad. The LTS scales had marginal internal reliability, ranging from 0.588 to 0.631, and were statistically significantly positively related to extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness, subjective happiness, and subjective vitality, and negatively associated with neuroticism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Conclusion. Preliminary psychometric properties of the Russian LTS showed its factorial and convergent validity. The Russian version of the LTS can be recommend as a diagnostic instrument for assessing faith in humanity, humanism, and Kantianism as traits of the Light Triad.

1069. Psychometric Properties of the Symptoms of Infection with Coronavirus-19: A Patient-Reported Outcome Measure for COVID-19 Signs and Symptoms

Abstract Background The Symptoms of Infection with Coronavirus-19 (SIC), a patient reported outcome (PRO) measure, was developed to assess COVID-19 signs and symptoms. Qualitative and cross-sectional studies demonstrated its content validity and preliminary psychometric properties. This study provides additional evidence on the reliability, responsiveness, known-group validity, and meaningful change thresholds of the SIC using methods aligned with regulatory guidance and best practices. Methods Data were from ENSEMBLE-2, a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial to assess the efficacy and safety of Ad26.COV2.S for the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infections in adults (aged 18+). The SIC was used in the trial to evaluate COVID-19 signs and symptoms and the Patient Global Impression of Severity (PGIS) was used as an anchor for validation. Intra-class correlations (ICCs) and Cronbach’s alphas were computed to evaluate the test-retest reliability and internal consistency, and analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were performed to assess the known-group validity of the SIC. Responsiveness was evaluated using PGIS as an anchor variable and a 1- or 2-point improvement in PGIS was used to estimate the meaningful change thresholds of the SIC. Results 183 participants with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) confirmed moderate to severe/critical COVID-19 were included (mean ± SD age: 51.5 ± 14.8 y; female: 44%; White 65%). ICCs showed strong test-retest reliabilities for most SIC domains (.60 and above). The internal consistency reliability of the SIC had a Cronbach’s alpha &amp;gt; .70 for all but one domain (Neurological). Statistically significant differences (p values &amp;lt; 0.05) for the different PGIS severity levels were found for all but one domain (Sensory), supporting known-group validity. All domains showed responsiveness based on changes (improvement and worsening) in PGIS, supporting the ability of the SIC to detect changes in COVID-19 signs and symptoms. Based on mean changes in the PGIS, estimated meaningful change thresholds for SIC domains ranged from -.36 to -2.11. Conclusion These results, based on data from ENSEMBLE-2, build upon prior cross-sectional analyses and provide additional supportive psychometric evidence on the SIC. Support: Janssen Vaccines &amp; Prevention B.V. Disclosures Eric K. H. Chan, PhD, Janssen Global Services, LLC: Employee|Janssen Pharmaceuticals: Stocks/Bonds Jeffrey Stoddard, MD, Janssen Pharmaceuticals: Employee|Janssen Pharmaceuticals: Stocks/Bonds Jerald Sadoff, MD, Janssen Vaccines &amp; Prevention BV: Employee Yan Liu, PhD, Janssen Pharmaceuticals: Employee|Janssen Pharmaceuticals: Stocks/Bonds Ilse van Dromme, PhD, Janssen Pharmaceuticals: Employee|Janssen Pharmaceuticals: Stocks/Bonds Eva G. Katz, PhD, MPH, RD, Janssen Pharmaceuticals: Employee|Janssen Pharmaceuticals: Stocks/Bonds Yi-hsuan Liu, PhD, MS, RD, Janssen Pharmaceuticals: Employee|Janssen Pharmaceuticals: Stocks/Bonds Kelly McQuarrie, BSN, Janssen Pharmaceuticals: Employee|Janssen Pharmaceuticals: Stocks/Bonds.

Early Indicators of Autism in Infants: Development of the IMES Screening Tool.

We developed the Infant, Motor, and Engagement Scale (IMES) to address the public health goal of early identification of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The IMES is a screening tool that assesses quality of infants' interaction with people and objects during early play. We aimed to examine the IMES' preliminary psychometric properties and its value in discriminating between infants later diagnosed with ASD and typically developing infants. We used the IMES to score retrospective home videos of 15 male infants, 7 who were later diagnosed with autism. We examined interrater reliability using Cohen's Kappa, internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha and content validity through expert review. Preliminary data support validity and reliability of the IMES for early identification for infants at 6 to 9 months. With further research, the IMES has the potential to identify at risk infants at a young age that may have long-term impact on child and family outcomes.

Preliminary Psychometric Properties of the Barriers to Care Questionnaire among Adults with Traumatic Brain Injury

<h3>Research Objectives</h3> The Barriers to Care Questionnaire (BCQ) is a measure of healthcare access and quality containing 5 subscales (pragmatics, skills, marginalization, expectations, and knowledge/beliefs) developed for parents of children with chronic health conditions. The objective of this study was to examine the internal consistency and construct validity of a modified version of the BCQ for adult self-report (BCQ-ASR) in a sample of individuals with history of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). <h3>Design</h3> Cross-sectional. <h3>Setting</h3> Online survey. <h3>Participants</h3> 311 individuals with a history of TBI between the ages of 18-79 (M=44.0, SD=16.4). Females comprised 40% of the sample which included individuals identifying as Non-Hispanic White (34.7%), Non-Hispanic Black (35.4%), and Hispanic (29.9%). <h3>Interventions</h3> Not Applicable. <h3>Main Outcome Measures</h3> Abbreviated Ohio State University TBI Identification Self-Administered-Brief determined severity of worst lifetime TBI and age of injury. The BCQ was modified for adult self-report by removing pediatric references (i.e., "child-friendly" "your child's care") and increasing the frame of reference in the instructions from "the past 3 months" to "the past 12 months" to provide a wider window of experience. <h3>Results</h3> The resulting BCQ-ASR demonstrated excellent internal consistency for the overall measure (Cronbach's alpha=0.9) and each of its subscales (Cronbach's alphas>0.8). Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated acceptable fit for the 5-factor structure of the original measure (CFI=0.929, RMSEA=0.066, 90%CI: 0.061, 0.071). Significantly lower scores on the BCQ-ASR, indicating poorer healthcare access and quality, were found for individuals living in counties with a lower density of hospitals per million residents [F(1,309)=5.8, p=0.017] and for those with moderate-to-severe TBI vs. mild controlling for time since injury [F(1,308)=5.0, p=0.026]. <h3>Conclusions</h3> The BCQ-ASR demonstrated preliminary evidence of reliability and construct validity with expected relationships with area resources and TBI severity. Further study should assess convergent validity of individual subscales and their utility in identifying modifiable barriers to healthcare access after TBI. <h3>Author(s) Disclosures</h3> Authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Extending Normative Data of the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test to Account for Preliminary Psychometric Properties among Elderly Individuals in Taiwan.

The Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) is widely used to assess cognitive performance in clinical settings. However, availability of normative data for Revised Version of PASAT (PASAT-R) is often constrained by sample size among elderly individuals. In this study, we sought to establish normative data for PASAT-R for elderly individuals in Taiwan. This study recruited 166 individuals aged over 65years stratified in accordance with the general population in terms of demographic characteristics, including age, educational level, and sex. We assessed PASAT-R test results in terms of psychometric properties. PASAT-R demonstrated good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Performance on PASAT-R was correlated with performance on the criterion tests. Performance on PASAT-R was negatively correlated with age and positively correlated with educational level. This study provides normative data for PASAT-R for elderly Taiwanese individuals. PASAT-R is applicable to neuropsychological assessment among elderly Taiwanese individuals.

Usability and validity of a virtual reality cognitive assessment tool for pediatric traumatic brain injury.

Deficits in executive functions are prevalent among children with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Assessing cognitive impairment is critical for evaluating and monitoring recovery. The present article reports a pilot study to evaluate the preliminary usability and validity of a virtual reality cognitive assessment tool (VR-CAT) specifically designed for children with TBI. A total of 54 children, 24 with TBI and 30 with orthopedic injury, participated in a cross-sectional cohort study at a Level-1 trauma center. The VR-CAT was evaluated in terms of user experience as well as preliminary psychometric properties including test-retest reliability, face validity, concurrent validity with two standard executive function assessment tools, and utility in distinguishing the TBI and orthopedic injury groups. Children in both groups reported high levels of usability (i.e., enjoyment and motivation). The VR-CAT composite and scores on tests of inhibitory control and working memory demonstrated modest test-retest reliability across two independent assessment visits, as well as acceptable face validity, modest concurrent validity, and clinical utility. The present study is among the first to evaluate the applicability of an immersive VR-CAT in children with TBI. The findings support high usability, adequate psychometric properties, and satisfactory clinical utility of the VR-CAT, suggesting it is a promising tool for assessing executive functions in this vulnerable population. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Stigma among UK family carers of people living with dementia.

Models of caregiving seldom include the role of stigma when understanding the experiences of carers of people living with dementia. To investigate the validity of the Family Stigma Instrument (FAMSI), and use it to explore the extent to which experiences of stigma are endorsed in family carers of people living with dementia. The FAMSI was tested with 70 carers of people living with dementia. They also completed a measure of self-esteem. The FAMSI demonstrated some good preliminary psychometric properties. Carers endorsed stigma by association more so than affiliate stigma constructs, suggesting that carers were aware that others viewed or treated them in a stigmatising fashion but did not endorse internalised consequences of this as much (e.g. behavioural or affective affiliate stigma). The FAMSI offers new avenues for understanding the contribution of stigma to caregiver burden in dementia. It also captures the positive aspects of caregiving, which may mitigate internalised stigma in family carers, and has good potential for evaluating stigma-neutralising interventions in dementia care.

Preliminary Psychometric Properties of the Autism Mental Status Examination (AMSE) in a Tertiary Care Center for Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis

Preliminary Psychometric Properties of the Autism Mental Status Examination (AMSE) in a Tertiary Care Center for Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis

The development of the Negative Bias in Prospection Scale: A novel assessment of dysfunctional prospection in depression.

"Prospection" refers to the ability to mentally simulate one's future episodes. Negative bias in prospection, which includes both reduced positivity and enhanced negativity, is considered to be closely related to the development and maintenance of depression. However, there is a relative paucity of measures that adequately assess negative bias in prospection in depressed people. The current study developed and initially validated the Negative Bias in Prospection Scale (NBPS) using a nonclinical sample (n=959). The validity and reliability of the NBPS were investigated in several ways. Results suggested the 14 NBPS items loaded onto three factors, namely the "Increased negativity," the "Reduced positivity," and the "Overgeneralization." The NBPS demonstrated decent internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Further, the NBPS was strongly associated with severity of depressive symptoms. Moreover, the NBPS was correlated in a theoretically meaningful way with other measures of future-oriented cognitions or negative biases. In conclusion, the NBPS has promising preliminary psychometric properties. It will be an efficient tool for exploring dysfunctional prospection in depression and provides a novel measure for mechanism of change in prospection-based interventions.

The preliminary psychometric properties of measuring tools for identifying transformational leaders in education

School transformation is a real process that is happening all over the world and also in Slovakia. Recently, one of the important topics involved in it is the conceptualisation and measurement of educational leadership. The purpose of this study was to examine the preliminary psychometric properties of the Slovak forms of the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI; Kouzes &amp; Posner, 2012) and the Czech Leadership Questionnaire (CLQ; Procházka et al., 2016) and to provide a culturally appropriate instrument for Slovak teachers. The study presents the results of the validation under Slovak conditions. The research sample consisted of teachers from different regions of Slovakia. The preliminary psychometric examinations used reliability and construct validity of internal consistency and suggest that both tools appear to be useful in identifying transformational leaders in education. The study is limited by non-standardised tools, research sample specifics, and sampling.

Executive Function Touch battery: Translation and preliminary measure validation for Pakistani preschoolers.

Keeping in mind the importance of measuring early executive function (EF) skills in low and middle-income countries, the present study examined the feasibility and preliminary psychometric properties of a performance-based computerized EF measure; EF Touch, to be used with Pakistani preschoolers. Review of the content and Urdu translation of verbal instruction EF Touch battery was carried out by subject matter experts before data collection from the 120 preschoolers aged between 3.1 to 5.9 years. The feasibility report indicated that between 79.2% -100% of the preschoolers completed each executive function task. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed the unidimensionality of the EF battery. Item response theory models were used for the initial assessment of tasks and item parameters. Results demonstrated that each task worked invariantly across subgroups of preschoolers residing in low and middle-income households. Moreover, preschoolers showed differences on each task, and task scores reflect their latent EF skills in the low to moderate range. The battery was demonstrated as a feasible and reliable measure for use with low and middle-income countries specifically in Pakistan.

Self-Determination assessment and evaluation in Romanian adolescents: preliminary psychometric properties of the ARC’s self-Determination scale

ABSTRACT Research in self-determination has expanded in recent years, especially in the special education field. Instruments to measure self-determination in students with disabilities are not available in the Romanian language, and this issue has led to the development of the current study, a cultural adaptation , and validation of The ARC’s Self-Determination Scale which provides a strong psychometric measure of self-determination. Based on the Functional Model of Self-determination, this scale is designed to measure the four components of self-determination construct and global self-determination in students with disabilities. This pilot test study aims to explain the cultural adaptation and validation process of The ARC’s Self-Determination Scale for use in the Romanian research context and the educational approach. The participants’ sample for the validation process of the scale comprised 275 young students with learning disabilities, and mild and moderate intellectual disabilities, the participants were ranging ages from 11 and 19 years old (M = 14.93; SD = 1.47). Through the structuraequation modeling approach, the estimation of the latent model fit provided evidence of internal validity of the scale, demonstrating the adequacy to measure self-determination in adolescents with mild and moderate intellectual disabilities. The values of internal consistency coefficients and validity characteristics are discussed. .