Development and Evidence of Validity and Reliability of the Adaptive Functioning Scale in Brazil

• In Event: The developing of instruments to evaluate child development in Brazil

Abstract

Intellectual disability (ID) is a developmental disorder characterized by deficits in intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior. The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) defines adaptive functioning as a severity measure of ID. The availability of tests in the international context to assess this construct has increased in recent years. In Brazil, however, non-systematic assessment of adaptive functioning, such as through observation and interviews, still predominates.
This study presents the process of development of the Escala de Funcionamento Adaptativo EFA [Adaptive Functioning Scale] and evidence of its content validity. The AFS-ID was conceived to assess the adaptive functioning of children and adolescents, aged between 7 and 15 years, through parental reports, covering Conceptual, Social and Practical domains. The development process involved five steps: designation of the theoretical framework; definition of the dimensions and development of the preliminary version; analysis of the items by four experts; semantic analysis of the items by the target population; and a pilot study. The final version consisted of 52 items.
Adaptive Functioning Scale is a new instrument developed in Brazil to assess the adaptive functioning and support the diagnosis of ID. This study’s objectives also were to investigate evidence of validity related to the scale’s internal structure, criterion validity, and reliability. The psychometric analyses involved two types of statistical modeling, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and item response theory analysis (IRT). These results highlight the strong psychometric properties of the EFA-DI scale and support its use as a parental report measure of young children’s adaptive functioning. Future studies will be conducted to develop norms of interpretation for the Adaptive Functioning Scale. This study is expected to contribute to the fields of psychological assessment and child development in Brazil.

Author

• Thais Selau, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)
  Presenting Author