New Research on Children With Special Health Care NeedsInternal Psychometric Properties of the Children with Special Health Care Needs Screener
Section snippets
Data Source
The National Survey of CSHCN provides national and state level data on the prevalence of special health care needs and their impact on children and their families.17 The National Center for Health Statistics, with funding and direction from MCHB, has conducted this random-digit-dial telephone survey every 4 years since 2001. In 2005 to 2006, survey interviewers contacted 192 083 households with children and screened 364 841 children <18 years of age. A parent or guardian knowledgeable about the
Classical Test Theory
Using the first-question approach, overall standardized α = .716. For all but the “medications” item, deleting items decreased reliability. Removing the services item created the largest negative change (Δα ≈ −.1). These findings indicated acceptable reliability for the questions that provided the basis for skip patterns related to CSHCN Screener follow-up questions. Poor reliability (ie, random measurement error) did not lead some parents to incorrectly fail to receive follow-up questions and
Discussion
In this study, we examined the internal psychometric properties of responses to the CSHCN Screener in the 2005–2006 NS-CSHCN. Classical test theory, CFA-OCM, and IRT supported the hypothesis that CSHCN Screener responses reliably describe whether children experience 1 of the 5 health-related consequences included on the CSHCN Screener and whether the consequences result from a medical, behavioral, or other health condition lasting at least 12 months. IRT demonstrated that CSHCN Screener
Acknowledgments
We thank the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, for making the data publicly available, and Ruth Stein, Christina Bethell, Michael Seid, and Lisa Opipari-Arrigan for their collegial support and insightful comments on our work. Adam Carle thanks Tara J. Carle and Margaret Carle, whose unending support and thoughtful comments make his work possible.
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