Face and Content Validity of the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Water Competence in Young Children

An international group of experts have developed a pictorial tool to measure perceived water competence for children aged from 5 to 8 years old: the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Water Competence (PSPWC). The aim of the present study was to verify the validity of this tool. In the first part of the study, 120 children were interviewed to investigate face validity of the PSPWC to ensure that all pictorial items were understandable. In the second part of the study, 13 scientific and/or pedagogical international experts were invited to assess the tool's content validity via an online survey. Face validity results revealed that children were able to understand and sequence correctly the aquatic situations in 92% of the cases. The average Content Validity Index (CVI) of the PSPWC ranged from 0.88 to 0.95, showing acceptable content validity. Feedback from experts and children resulted in a major improvement of the "exit water" situation and minor improvements concerning some other items. Experts confirmed that the PSPWC was globally appropriate for different countries and cultures, except for the situation "water entry by slide" which was not considered usual practice in some countries. The PSPWC opens up to new fields of research; useful both for the prevention of drowning and for the support of children's aquatic education.