Development and initial validation of the Performance Skills Questionnaire (PSQ)

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Occupational Therapy
• Developmental Psychology
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Assessing performance skills in preschoolers is crucial for early intervention.
• Existing tools may not fully capture the nuances of everyday functional skills.
• Parent-reported measures offer valuable insights into a child's performance in natural settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the Performance Skills Questionnaire (PSQ) for parents of preschoolers.
• To evaluate the psychometric properties, including reliability and validity, of the PSQ.
• To establish the PSQ as a tool for measuring performance skills in children aged 4-6 years.

Main Methods:

• Developed the Performance Skills Questionnaire (PSQ) for parent-reported assessment.
• Recruited 231 preschoolers with mild-to-moderate developmental disabilities and 240 typically developing peers (ages 4-6).
• Assessed internal consistency, test-retest reliability, construct validity (factor analysis), and convergent/divergent validity (correlations with VMI and CPQ).

Main Results:

• The PSQ demonstrated good internal reliability and temporal stability.
• Factor analysis revealed 3 factors explaining 52% of the variance, supporting construct validity.
• Significant differences between known groups were observed, and correlations supported convergent and divergent validity with VMI and CPQ.

Conclusions:

• The Performance Skills Questionnaire (PSQ) is a reliable and psychometrically sound instrument.
• The PSQ effectively measures performance skills based on preschool children's everyday functioning.
• This tool provides valuable data for understanding and supporting children's development.