Journal
ACADEMIC PEDIATRICS
Volume 11, Issue 2, Pages 128-135Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.acap.2009.11.006
Keywords
children with special health care needs; confirmatory factor analysis; item response theory; psychometrics; reliability
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
OBJECTIVE: Insufficient research has established the measurement properties of the Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) Screener. This leaves unclear whether CSHCN Screener based estimates reliably identify CSHCN. We used classical and modern test theory to establish the CSHCN Screener's internal psychometric properties. METHODS: Data came from the 2005-2006 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN), a nationally representative survey of US children (N = 359 154). RESULTS: Cronbach's alpha, a measure of internal reliability, equaled .76. Confirmatory factor analysis for ordered-categorical measures indicated that a single underlying trait that we label health-condition-complexity underlies CSHCN Screener responses. Item response theory showed that responses provide particularly precise measurement among children experiencing elevated health-condition-complexity trait levels. CONCLUSIONS: Findings demonstrate that responses to the CSHCN Screener as used in the NS-CSHCN have good internal psychometric properties and include minimal random measurement error. Epidemiologists, clinicians and others can rely on CSHCN Screener responses to reliably identify CSHCN experiencing 1 or more of the 5 consequences included on the CSHCN Screener.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available