Psychometric Properties of the Spanish Version of the Self-Determination Inventory Student Self-Report: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach.
The Spanish Self-Determination Inventory is ready for clinical use with Spanish-speaking youth with intellectual disability.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team tested the Spanish Self-Determination Inventory.
They gave it to 1,021 Spanish youth.
Some had intellectual disability, some did not.
They used fancy math to check if the test worked well.
What they found
The test held together beautifully.
All the questions measured self-determination as intended.
It worked the same for kids with and without disabilities.
Spanish-speaking BCBAs can trust the scores.
How this fits with other research
Verdugo et al. (2010) did the same thing with the Spanish Supports Intensity Scale.
Both studies prove you can adapt English tools for Spanish families without losing quality.
Kaiser et al. (2022) found the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire failed in kids with IDD.
This looks like a contradiction, but it is not.
The SDQ asks kids to rate their own problems.
The SDI asks kids to rate their own strengths and choices.
Kids with IDD can report what they CAN do better than what they DO wrong.
Why it matters
You now have a solid Spanish tool to measure self-determination.
Use it during transition planning to show growth.
Parents will see progress in their own language.
Insurance and schools will accept the scores because the math checks out.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Instruments to measure self-determination have only been available in the Spanish language to date, for adolescents with intellectual disability (ID). However, given the development of a new measure of self-determination for youth with and without disabilities, the Self-Determination Inventory, there is a need to adapt and validate this tool in the Spanish language so as to provide practitioners with a psychometrically strong measure of self-determination. This study provides evidence of reliability and validity of the Spanish version of the scale, empirically tested with a sample of 620 youth with and without disabilities in Spain. Specifically, validity was evidenced through structural equation modeling approaches, confirming the instrument adequacy to measure self-determination in Spanish speaking youth. Future lines of research are suggested.
American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2018 · doi:10.1352/1944-7558-123.6.545