Validity and Reliability of the Persian Version of Conners’ Early Childhood-Teacher/Childcare Provider ADHD Rating Scale

Author Name(s): Shahrokh Amiri, Ayyoub Malek, Homayoun Sadeghi-Bazargani, Amirhoushang Ghorashizadeh, Salman Abdi, Masoumeh Ahsani, Ali Baharigharehgoz
Author Email: homayoun.sadeghi@gmail.com

Abstract

Objectives: to assess the validity and reliability of the Persian version of Conners’ Early Childhood (EC)Teacher/Childcare Provider ADHD Rating Scale. Methodology: Conners’ EC-Teacher was translated by two native bilingualsfrom English to Persian and then back-translated into English. The Persian version was approvedby specialists in terms of consistency with the original version. A total of 1013 children of 3 to 6 years were randomly selected through the cluster sampling method from kindergartens and preschoolsin Tabriz and the two forms of Conners’EC (teacher and parents) were completed. The validity was determined through the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). To determine the diagnostic value, 334 children were interviewed using the clinical trials of DSM-IV TR criteria. The Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve was used to determine the best cutoff point. Findings: The content validity for all contents was obtained using a modified Kappa of higher than 0.76. The reliability of Conners’ EC-Teacher with Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.91 and the retest reliability was ICC=0.89. According to the convergence validity using SDQ, the tool was accepted for evaluating the symptoms of ADHD. The ROC curve was evaluated with normal scores as well as the mean scores of parents and teacher forms. According to the findings, by eliminating 10% of people with a normal difference in the scores of teacher and parents, the area under the curve of the diagnostic value increased 0.77 and 0.79, respectively. Conclusion: The Persian version of Conners’ EC-Teacher has a good validity and reliability. Simultaneous use of teacher and parentsforms and considering a minimum difference of 90% for teacher and parents scores hasa better diagnostic value.

Keywords ADHD, Validity, Conners’ EC-Teacher, Psychometrics, Persian

Introduction

According to the statistical and diagnostic manual, ADHD is one of the most common psychiatric diagnoses in children and adolescents (1). According to a recent report, the incidence of ADHD in Tabriz, Iran, is estimated at 9.8% in primary school children (2).Studies have shown that ADHD children are affected by the disease in different psychological aspectsand social relationships (3, 4), substance abuse (5), and sleep problems (6, 7).On the other hand, ADHD is a heterogeneous disorder which is associated with several disorders (8). Given the damages in people with ADHD, an accurate and simple screening tool is a necessity for diagnostic interviews and performing therapeutic interventions.

 

Conclusion

Considering the results of studies conducted in different countries, it seems that Conners’ EC-Teacher should be localized and a cutoff should be determined for every community.However, the findings of this study showed that the Persian version of Conners’ EC-Teacher is of good validity for the diagnosis of ADHD.Since identifying children with ADHD in early life is important for treatment interventions, Conners’ EC-Teacher can be used for initial screening. But it should be considered that the diagnosis of ADHD based only on the results of the existing questionnaires is not recommended; instead, this tool can only be used as a helping tool in conjunction with a clinical interview for screening

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