This Article Full Text (OnlineFirst PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Meier, S. T. Articles by Bardos, A. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Development of a Change-Sensitive Outcome Measure for Children Receiving Counseling

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: stmeier{at}buffalo.edu.

	Abstract

Abstract: Contemporary testing standards place test purpose as the central focus during test development and subsequent use. This study describes the development of a measure for children designed explicitly to measure change resulting from psychosocial interventions. Parents completed the outcome measure for 896 elementary school-age children receiving psychotherapy interventions from community mental health agencies. Scales formed with change-sensitive items evidenced adequate reliability estimates and larger effect sizes than scales composed of the original item pool. When asked by stakeholders such as parents, principals, and school boards to investigate the effectiveness of provided interventions, school psychologists should consider the use of change-sensitive measures that are sensitive to small and moderately sized treatment effects.

Résumé: De nos jours, il est pratique courante d’accorder, au cours de l’élaboration du test psychologique et de son utilisation ultérieure, une place centrale à l’objectif qu’il vise. La présente étude aborde l’élaboration d’un test pour enfants ayant pour objectif de mesurer d’une manière explicite les changements occasionnés par les interventions psychosociales. Des parents ont participé à ce test qui concernait 896 enfants d’âge primaire bénéficiant de l’aide de psychothérapeutes d’organismes communautaires de santé mentale. Les tests contenant des items aptes à détecter les changements attribuables au counseling ont prouvé leur efficacité et permettent de mieux mesurer ces changements que les tests constitués des items initiaux. Lorsque les intervenants, par exemple les parents, les chefs d’école et les conseils scolaires, leur demandent de déterminer l’efficacité des interventions offertes, les psychologues scolaires devraient envisager de recourir aux tests contenant des items aptes à détecter les changements attribuables au counseling.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?