Implementation period: 06. 2018-12. 2018
Project value: BGN 25,700 lv., Organization: Contract of the Institute for population and human studies with UNICEF No. GA/BULA/2018/01 dated 28.06.2018
Team Manager: Assoc. prof. Maria Trifonova
Participants: Prof. L.Peneva, Assoc. Prof. Dr. D. Atanasov, Asst. Prof. Y. Lalova, M. Hristova, Cr. Filimonova, A. Kalonkina, M. Vrachovska, M. Mitkova
Objective: The main objective of the project is to establish the external and concurrent validity of the screening test for three-year-old children, its sensitivity and specificity as important psychometric characteristics, along with the reliability and internal consistency, in order to meet the standards of the Bulgarian Society of Psychologists. In order to cover all five subscales – “Motor development”, “Emotional development”, “Social Development”, “Language development” and “Cognitive development”, two different instruments have been applied in an empirical study – Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development – III (subscale “Cognitive development”), and Denver II screening test for child development; the correlations with total score of the screening test was measured.
Application/Results: The data analysis shows a statistically significant positive, medium correlation (r = 0.63, p = 0.00) between the total score of the screening test and the score on the cognitive subscale of the Bailey III Developmental Scales, as well as between the later and the total score of the cognitive subscale of the screening test (r = 0.54, p = 0.00). AUC values are above 0.86, which is evidence for the accuracy of the screening score. The sensitivity in both age groups is between 0.40-0.62 if the critical cut-off is at the 10th and between 0.6-0.75 at the 20th percentile. The specificity is high – from 0.84 to 0.92, respectively. These psychometric parameters allow us to assume that
the screening test can be successfully applied for the purposes for which it was created, and can provide useful information not only about the specific developmental difficulties, but also about the strengths of the child.
Publications: Atanassova-Trifonova, M. (2021). Examining the psychometric properties—external validity, sensitivity, specificity, and reliability of the screening test for three-year-old children—short form. Bulgarian Journal of Psychology. 2 (4), 124-134. 2 (4), 124-134. ISSN 0861-7813.