Shared reading quality assessment by parental report: preliminary validation of the DialogPR

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Publication year

2018

study description

Cross-sectional

core topic(s)

Early Literacy , Pediatric Primary Care , Shared Reading

Population Characteristics

Toddler/Preschool

Exposures, Outcomes, Other

Clinic-Based Programs and Interventions , Home Language/Literacy/Learning Environment , Language and Literacy Development , Parent-Child Relationships/Interactions , Reading Frequency , School Readiness and Educational Outcomes , Screening and Tools , Validity, Reliability, Feasibility, and Acceptability

metric(s)

StimQ Cognitive Home Environment Questionnaire (StimQ)
DialogPR

objectives

To develop and pilot test a brief caregiver report measure of shared reading quality (DialogPR) based on a dialogic reading conceptual model.

exposure

The DialogPR was administered by trained research coordinators at the study visit following MRI, along with the READ subscale of the validated StimQ-P measure of home cognitive environment. The DialogPR consists of eight items developed in consultation with experts in early literacy, based on the PEER/CROWD dialogic reading conceptual model. The StimQ-P is a validated parental report measure of cognitive stimulation in the home for children 36 to 72 months of age and consists of 4 subscales. The READ subscale examines access to books, frequency of shared reading, variety of books read, and interactivity/quality of reading.

outcomes evaluated

All eight DialogPR items were evaluated for smoothness, modality, difficulty, polarity, and sufficiency of observations across levels. Model fit was tested for each item to identify any that were markedly or unnecessarily influencing the scale-level distributions. Preliminary estimates of DialogPR’s reliability and validity were computed, beginning with Cronbach’s coefficient alpha (αCr) and standard error of measurement (SEM) as the measures of reliability, and a Spearman-rho (rρ) correlation coefficient between DialogPR total score and StimQ-P READ subscale score as the measure of criterion-related validity.

setting

Participants were previously enrolled in two recent MRI-based studies of cognitive and brain development at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Inclusion criteria for both studies were: preschool-age (3–5 years), full-term gestation, native English-speaking household, no history of brain injury, developmental delay or stimulant use, and no contraindications to MRI. The first sample was drawn from an ongoing home-injury prevention trial involving low-SES families at-risk for poor health and social outcomes. Girls were exclusively sampled for this study due to time/budget constraints and higher MRI success rates for girls at this age. The second sample involved mother-child dyads recruited via advertisement from employee families at a large academic medical center, with no gender constraint. Both the DialogPR and the READ subscale were administered following MRI.

methods

Cross-sectional study involving 49 healthy mother-child dyads (mean child age 4.5 yrs., SD = 0.6 yrs.) from 2 separate MRI-based studies. The DialogPR and the READ subscale of the validated StimQ-P measure of home cognitive environment were administered by trained research coordinators following MRI. Estimated reading level is 6th grade. Descriptive statistics were computed at both the item and scale levels. Modern theory Rasch methods were used to analyze all eight DialogPR items along with preliminary estimates of reliability and validity.

sample size

49 healthy mother-child dyads (mean child age 4.5 yrs., SD = 0.6 yrs.) The combined sample involved 15 boys and 34 girls, and was diverse in terms of age, household income, and maternal education.

measures

results

Combined sample involved 15 boys and 34 girls, and was diverse in terms of age, household income, and maternal education. DialogPR administration time was less than 2 min, with no problems reported. The DialogPR demonstrated strong internal consistency and reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.82), and criterion-related validity with the StimQ-P READ (Spearman’s rho coefficient = 0.53). Rasch analysis revealed strong psychometric properties in terms of reliability, variability in item difficulty, and inter-item and item-measure correlations.

conclusions

Preliminary evidence suggests that the DialogPR may be an efficient means to assess shared reading quality and dialogic reading via caregiver report. Further investigation is needed.

limitations

The sample population was relatively small as it resulted from the combination of 2 smaller studies. The first exclusively involved 4-year-old girls from low-SES households by design, while the second was diverse in age (3 to 5) and gender from largely higher-SES employee families at an academic medical center. A larger, naturally diverse sample is critical to show that DialogPR may be generalizable. For budgetary reasons, no follow-up visits were conducted, hindering the assessment of test-retest reliability. Moreover, it is unclear whether reported behaviors reflect long-term patterns since the study did not compare directly the findings to direct observation. Lastly, the relatively small sample size is inadequate for definitive validation, and future research with a larger sample is needed to corroborate the findings, including test-retest reliability and concurrent validity with observational data. Further refinement is also needed, perhaps including more explicit means to assess parental responses to the child (i.e. evaluations and expansions) during shared reading.