Telepractice in Early Childhood Intervention: A Parent-Reported Social Validity Scale

In recent years, telepractice has become widespread as an intervention strategy in Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) services. However, studies supporting its use in this field remain scarce. Because reliable instruments are needed to evaluate the perceived quality, satisfaction and the acceptability of telepractice from the families' perspective, the present study aims to report the psychometric properties of an ECI-specific instrument that includes a variety of social validity indicators that are also important and consistent with a family-centered approach.

This study, with a sample of 738 families, introduces an instrument aimed at evaluating the social validity of telepractice. The scale includes the main indicators of social validity: Usability, Effectiveness; Feasibility, Utility, intervention with natural caregivers, and Future Intentions. The study aims to report its psychometric properties through a split-sample method, conducting both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis with randomly assigned sub-samples.

We found that all seven items fit into one factor measuring social validity of telepractice, with acceptable internal consistency and sensitive enough to capture differences between the type of service delivery families received.

In addition, the proposed instrument provides relevant information for professionals to improve the quality of service-delivery in ECI.