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Development and psychometric properties of the Sensory Responsiveness Questionnaire (SRQ)
Tami Bar-Shalita1, Ze'ev Seltzer, Jean-Jacques Vatine
1Department of Occupational Therapy, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
Insights
A new questionnaire, the Sensory Responsiveness Questionnaire (SRQ), effectively diagnoses Sensory Modulation Disorder (SMD) in adults. This tool assesses affective-emotive responsiveness to sensory input, aiding in diagnosis for adults with SMD.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Occupational Therapy
Background:
- Sensory Modulation Disorder (SMD) affects adults' participation in daily life.
- Current diagnostic tools primarily target pediatric populations.
- A need exists for adult-focused diagnostic instruments for SMD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate the Sensory Responsiveness Questionnaire (SRQ) for diagnosing SMD in adults.
- To assess the affective-emotive responsiveness to sensory stimuli in adults.
- To establish the psychometric properties of the SRQ.
Main Methods:
- The SRQ underwent three developmental phases: Pilot, Version-I, and Version-II.
- Psychometric properties were examined in adult participants with and without SMD.
- Sample sizes included 39 (Pilot), 399 (Version-I), and 48 (Version-II) participants.
Main Results:
- Version-II of the SRQ demonstrated high test-retest reliability.
- Moderate criterion validity was observed for the SRQ.
- Strong and significant construct validity was established for the SRQ.
Conclusions:
- The Sensory Responsiveness Questionnaire (SRQ) shows strong potential for diagnosing Sensory Modulation Disorder in adults.
- The SRQ effectively measures affective-emotive responsiveness across sensory modalities.
- This instrument addresses a critical gap in adult SMD diagnostics.
Purpose:
Individuals with Sensory Modulation Disorder (SMD) are characterized by an inability to normally grade the degree, intensity and nature of their responses to sensory input and are limited in their ability to fully participate in daily life activities, and attain optimal quality of life. Most existing diagnostic tools are intended for paediatric populations. A questionnaire that assesses the intensity of the affective-emotive responsiveness of adults to stimuli in all sensory modalities and the frequency of such responses for diagnosing adults with disorders in sensory modulation is necessary. This article describes the development and assessment of the psychometric properties of a novel instrument, the Sensory Responsiveness Questionnaire (SRQ), for this purpose (see Appendix).
Method:
The SRQ evolved through three developmental phases (Pilot, Version-I, and the most recent Version-II). Each phase comprised several studies conducted to further refine the instrument and to examine its psychometric properties with adults with Sensory Modulation Disorder versus SMD-free individuals (n=39 for the pilot version, n=399 for Version-I, and n=48 for Version-II).
Results:
The scales of Version-II indicated high test-retest reliability, moderate criterion validity and strong significant construct validity.
Conclusion:
There is strong indication that the SRQ can be used to diagnose adults with SMD.
