Predictors of the Social Validity Judgments of Early Childhood Intervention Performance Checklists and Practice Guides

Year 2017, Volume: 4 Issue: 1, 13 - 20, 01.01.2017

Carl Dunst Deborah Hamby

https://doi.org/10.17220/ijpes.2017.01.002

Abstract

Early childhood intervention practitioners N = 42 reviewed three early intervention performance checklists and three intervention practice guides and made social validity judgments of the acceptability and importance of the products. Both the checklists and practice guides included evidence-based characteristics and indicators that are known to be related to improved child learning and development. Hierarchical regression analyses of the relationship between five predictor variables and the study participants’ social validity judgments and found that only practitioners’ cognitive appraisals of the checklists and practice guides accounted for significant amounts of variance in their social validity judgments beyond that accounted for by the other predictors education, years of experience, primary role, and type of program . The importance of cognitive appraisals for understanding their influence on practitioner social validity judgments are described as are the limitations of the study.

Keywords

Early childhood intervention, social validity judgments, performance checklists, practice guides, practitioner cognitive appraisals

References

• Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
• Bandura, A. (1993). Perceived self-efficacy in cognitive development and functioning. Educational Psychologist, 28, 117-148. doi:10.1207/s15326985ep2802_3
• Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.
• Berlyne, D. E. (1960). Conflict, arousal, and curiosity. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S. G., & Aiken, L. S. (2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Division for Early Childhood. (2014). DEC recommended practices in early intervention/early childhood special education. Retrieved from http://www.dec-sped.org/recommendedpractices
• Dunst, C. J. (2007). Early intervention with infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities. In S. L. Odom, R. H. Horner, M. Snell, & J. Blacher (Eds.), Handbook of developmental disabilities (pp. 161-180). New York: Guilford Press.
• Dunst, C. J., Bruder, M. B., & Espe-Sherwindt, M. (2014). Family capacity-building in early childhood intervention: Do context and setting matter? School Community Journal, 24(1), 37-48.
• Dunst, C. J., Pace, J., & Hamby, D. W. (2007). Evaluation of the Games for Growing tool kit for promoting early contingency learning. Asheville, NC: Winterberry Press.
• Dunst, C. J., Raab, M., & Hamby, D. W. (2016). Interest-based everyday child language learning. Revista de Logopedia, Foniatria y Audiologia, 36, 153-161. doi:10.1016/j.rlfa.2016.07.003
• Dunst, C. J., Trivette, C. M., & Raab, M. (2013). An implementation science framework for conceptualizing and operationalizing fidelity in early childhood intervention studies. Journal of Early Intervention, 35(2), 85- 101. doi:10.1177/1053815113502235
• Dunst, C. J., Trivette, C. M., & Raab, M. (2015). Utility of implementation and intervention performance checklists for conducting research in early childhood education. In O. N. Saracho (Ed.), Handbook of research methods in early childhood education: Vol.1. Research methodologies (pp. 247-276). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
• Foster, S. L., & Mash, E. J. (1999). Assessing social validity in clinical treatment research issues and procedures. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 308-319. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.67.3.308
• Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007, P.L. 110-134. (2007).
• Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, Pub. L. No. 108-446, 118 Stat. 2647. (2004).
• Nyer, P. U. (1997). A study of the relationships between cognitive appraisals and consumption emotions. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 25 (4), 296–304. doi:10.1177/0092070397254002
• Paškvan, M., Kubicek, B., Prem, R., & Korunka, C. (2016). Cognitive appraisal of work intensification. International Journal of Stress Management, 23(2), 124-146. doi:10.1037/a0039689
• Pittenger, A., Barahona, C., Cavalari, R. N. S., Parent, V., & K., L. J. (2014). Social validity assessment of job satisfaction, resources, and support among educational service practitioners for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 26(6), 737- 745. doi:10.1007/s10882-014-9389-x
• Scherer, K. R. (1999). Appraisal theory. In T. Dalgleish & M. J. Power (Eds.), Handbook of cognition and emotion (pp. 637-664). Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons.
• Schwartz, I. S., & Baer, D. M. (1991). Social validity assessments: Is current practice state of the art? Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 24, 189-204.
• Silvia, P. J. (2005). Cognitive appraisals and interest in visual art: Exploring an appraisal theory of aesthetic emotions. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 23(2), 119-133. doi:10.2190/12av-ah2p-mceh-289e
• Strain, P. S., Barton, E. E., & Dunlap, G. (2012). Lessons learned about the utility of social validity. Education and Treatment of Children, 35, 183-200. doi:10.1353/etc.2012.0007
• Swanson, J., Roper, N., Raab, M., & Dunst, C. J. (2006). Practitioner judgments of the usefulness of contextually mediated practices training activities. http://fipp.org/static/media/uploads/caseinpoint/caseinpoint_vol2_no9.pdf.
• CASEinPoint, 2(9), 1-7. Retrieved from
• Tong, E. M. W. (2013). Cognitive appraisals can differentiate positive emotions: The role of social appraisals. In J. R. J. Fontaine, K. R. Scherer, & C. Soriano (Eds.), Components of emotional meaning: A sourcebook (pp. 507-511). Oxford, England, UK: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199592746.003.0043.
• Vancel, S. M., Missall, K. N., & Bruhn, A. L. (2016). Teacher ratings of social validity of schoolwide positive behavior interventions and supports: A comparison of school groups. Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, 60(4), 320-328. doi:10.1080/1045988X.2016.1157784
• Wehby, J. H., Maggin, D. M., Moore Partin, T. C., & Robertson, R. (2011). The impact of working alliance, social validity, and teacher burnout on implementation fidelity of the Good Behavior Game. School Mental Health, 4(1), 22-33. doi:10.1007/s12310-011-9067-4
• Yap, A. J., & Tong, E. M. W. (2009). The appraisal rebound effect: Cognitive appraisals on the rebound.
• Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35(9), 1208-1219. doi:10.1177/0146167209338073