Development and Content Validity of the Participation and Sensory Environment Questionnaire

ABSTRACT

Qualitative methodology was used to develop items for a questionnaire designed to examine the perspectives of parents regarding the impact of the sensory environment on participation for children aged 3 to 5 who have autism spectrum disorders. A total of 34 parents/caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorders and 8 experts in autism spectrum disorders and/or measurement completed qualitative interviews for concept, content review, and cognitive interviewing. The result was a pool of 35 items for home/community domains for 3 scales. The outcome of this study was the development and content validation of the Participation and Sensory Environment Questionnaire.

KEYWORDS:

• Autism
• effort
• environment
• participation
• sensory

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all of the families who participated in the study, as well as the graduate students in the ASD Lab in the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences at Temple University who helped with data collection for the study.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by a pilot grant to the first author from the Boston Rehabilitation Outcome Center under a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (#5R24HD065688-05; A. Jette, P.I.), as part of the Medical Rehabilitation Research Infrastructure Network. Additional funding was provided from a Temple University Inter-department Research Grant.