Face and Content Validity of the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Water Competence in Young Children
Liliane De Sousa Morgado,
Kristine De Martelaer,
Arja Sääkslahti,
Kristy Howells,
Lisa M. Barnett,
Eva D’Hondt,
Aldo M. Costa,
Boris Jidovtseff
Affiliations
Liliane De Sousa Morgado
Department of Sport and Rehabilitation Sciences, Research Unit for a Life-Course Perspective on Health and Education, CEReKi, University of Liege, 4000 Liège, Belgium
Kristine De Martelaer
Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Physical Education and Physiotherapy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Arja Sääkslahti
Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland
Kristy Howells
Department of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, School of Psychology and Life Sciences, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury CT1 1QU, UK
Lisa M. Barnett
Faculty of Health, Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3216, Australia
Eva D’Hondt
Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Physical Education and Physiotherapy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Aldo M. Costa
Department of Sport Sciences, University of Beira Interior, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal
Boris Jidovtseff
Department of Sport and Rehabilitation Sciences, Research Unit for a Life-Course Perspective on Health and Education, CEReKi, University of Liege, 4000 Liège, Belgium
An international group of experts have developed a pictorial tool to measure perceived water competence for children aged from 5 to 8 years old: the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Water Competence (PSPWC). The aim of the present study was to verify the validity of this tool. In the first part of the study, 120 children were interviewed to investigate face validity of the PSPWC to ensure that all pictorial items were understandable. In the second part of the study, 13 scientific and/or pedagogical international experts were invited to assess the tool’s content validity via an online survey. Face validity results revealed that children were able to understand and sequence correctly the aquatic situations in 92% of the cases. The average Content Validity Index (CVI) of the PSPWC ranged from 0.88 to 0.95, showing acceptable content validity. Feedback from experts and children resulted in a major improvement of the “exit water” situation and minor improvements concerning some other items. Experts confirmed that the PSPWC was globally appropriate for different countries and cultures, except for the situation “water entry by slide” which was not considered usual practice in some countries. The PSPWC opens up to new fields of research; useful both for the prevention of drowning and for the support of children’s aquatic education.
