Cross-cultural adaptation of a pre-school screening instrument: comparison of Korean and US populations.
The Korean ASQ keeps the reliability of the US original, giving BCBAs a parent-friendly way to spot developmental delays in Korean preschoolers.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers translated the Ages and Stages Questionnaire into Korean. They asked parents of young children to fill it out. Then they checked if the Korean version still flagged delays as well as the original US form.
What they found
The Korean ASQ held together. Parent answers were consistent, and the scores pointed to the same children who needed help. It worked for kids from four months to five years.
How this fits with other research
Neely et al. (2015) later used the Korean CBCL to spot autism. That study builds on this one by testing a different parent form for a narrower group.
Leung et al. (2013) did a similar job in China with the PDAS cognitive sub-test. Both papers show Western screeners can travel if you adapt the words and culture.
DuBay et al. (2022) warn that simple back-translation is risky. Their Spanish autism screener fell apart, so the careful cultural work done here matters even more.
Why it matters
If you serve Korean families, you can trust the Korean ASQ during intake. One parent form gives a quick picture of motor, language, and social growth. Use it to decide who needs a deeper look, just as you would with the English version.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Accurate and efficient developmental screening measures are critical for early identification of developmental problems; however, few reliable and valid tests are available in Korea as well as other countries outside the USA. The Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ) was chosen for study with young children in Korea. METHODS: The ASQ was translated into Korean and necessary cross-cultural adaptations were made. The translated version was then distributed and completed by 3220 parents of young children between the ages of 4 months and 5 years. Reliability was studied including domain correlations, internal consistency, and performance of identification cut-off scores for the Korean population. Rasch analyses including tests of Differential Item Functioning, contrasting Korean and US samples were also performed. RESULTS: In general, internal consistency of the Korean ASQ was high, with overall correlations 0.75 for communication, 0.85 for gross motor, 0.74 for fine motor, 0.72 for problem solving, and 0.65 for personal-social. Validity, including concurrent validity, also had strong evidence. Mean scores of children on the Korean translation of the ASQ and the US normative sample were generally similar. Rasch analyses indicated the majority of items functioned similarly across the Korean sample. CONCLUSIONS: In general, the ASQ was translated with cultural appropriateness in mind and functioned as a valid and reliable parent-completed screening test to assist in early identification of young children with developmental delays. Further research is needed to confirm these results with a larger and more diverse Korean sample.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2008 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2007.01000.x