Semi-Structured Interview Guide Development and Validation to Explore Parental Experiences and Expectations From...

Area of Science:

• Pediatrics
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Down Syndrome Research

Background:

• Limited research exists on parental expectations and experiences regarding physiotherapy for children with Down syndrome.
• Understanding these perspectives is crucial for tailoring effective therapeutic interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate a semi-structured interview guide designed to explore parental experiences and expectations from physiotherapy for children with Down syndrome.

Main Methods:

• A 28-item interview guide was iteratively refined to a six-item version through three rounds of Delphi surveys involving experts in pediatric disability.
• Revisions were made based on expert feedback to meet the content validity threshold (S-CVI/Ave ≥ 0.90).

Main Results:

• Ten experts with an average of two years of experience contributed to the refinement process.
• The final six-item interview guide achieved a satisfactory content validity, with individual item-content validity index (I-CVI) ranging from 0.78 to 1 and a scale-CVI/Ave (S-CVI/Ave) of 0.9.

Conclusions:

• A valid semi-structured interview guide was successfully developed.
• This tool is poised to effectively explore the experiences and expectations of parents whose children with Down syndrome are undergoing physiotherapy.