Washington, K. Thomas-Stonell, N.,
Oddson, B., McLeod, S., Warr-Leeper, G., & Robertson, B., & Rosenbaum,
P. (2013, in press January). Construct validity of the FOCUS© (Focus on the
Outcomes of Communication Under Six): A functional communication outcome
measure for preschool children. Child:
Care, Health and Development
Here is the abstract:
Objective To
establish the construct validity of the Focus on the Outcomes of Communication
Under Six (FOCUS©).
This measure is reflective of concepts in the International Classification of
Functioning Disability and Health – Children and Youth framework. It was
developed to capture “real-world” changes (e.g., communicative participation)
in preschoolers’ communication following speech-language intervention.
Method
A
pre-post design was used. Fifty-two parents of 3- to 6-year-old preschoolers attending
speech-language therapy were included as participants. Speech-language
therapists provided individual and/or group intervention to preschoolers.
Intervention targeted: articulation/phonology, voice/resonance,
expressive/receptive language, play, and use of augmentative devices. Construct
validity for communicative participation was assessed using pre-intervention
and post-intervention parent interviews using the FOCUS© and
the communication and socialization domains of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior
Scales-II (VABS-II).
Results Significant
associations were found between the FOCUS©, measuring
communicative participation, and the VABS-II domains for: (a) pre-intervention
scores in communication, r=0.53, p<0.001; 95% CI=0.30-0.70 and
socialization, r=0.67, p<0.001; 95% CI=0.48-0.80; (b) change
scores over-time in communication, r=0.45,
p<0.001; 95% CI =0.201-0.65 and
socialization, r=0.39, p=0.002; 95% CI=0.13-0.60, and (c)
scores at post-intervention for communication, r=0.53, p<0.001; 95%
CI=0.30-0.70 and for socialization, r=0.37,
p=0.003; 95% CI=0.11-0.50.
Conclusions The study provided evidence on construct
validity of the FOCUS© for evaluating real-world changes in
communication. We believe that the FOCUS© is a useful measure
of communicative participation.
