Developmental Methodologies Flashcards
What are three factors that can be seen as challenges to the assessment of socio-emotional problems in children?
- Rapid developmental transitions e.g. clinically relevant behaviours in older children may be normal for younger children e.g. temper tantrums
- Lack of data integration that comes from different sources and methods e.g. who provides info about the child, what method of assessment can we use and what time frame have they used?
- Difficulty determining the level of impairment and functioning e.g. situational demands, impact on family
What are five factors that may affect the accuracy of children’s responses to assessment questions? How can these be addressed?
- Age
- Can solve by having developmentally accurate methodologies - weighing up how much the data is trusted by children providing info - Interviewing techniques
- Avoid using certain techniques or formats e.g. leading qs - Response formats
- Some questionnaires may be inappropriate e.g. Likert scales- use smiley faces instead as they may not know significance of what 1-7 means - Phrasing or complexity of questions
- Avoid complexity of qs - Factual info vs abstract concepts
- Important to ask factual qs to young children as they may not understand abstract qs or thinking
What considerations may the researcher have before conducting observations of parent-child interactions? How can these be addressed?
- The presence of the observer due to issues of social desirability and reactivity
- Can be addressed through using one way screens or on a camera without the researcher or discarding the first few minutes of an observation - The type of task e.g. structured vs unstructured
- A structured task may be more stressful and this could affect behaviour - Location of observations e.g. lab or ppts home- behaviour may be more authentic in a natural setting but presence of external factors such as siblings may affect behaviour although lab is controlled
What are the advantages of observational methods when assessing children?
Researcher defines and chooses target behaviours, can look at microscopic processes, have data on rates
What are the disadvantages of observational methods when assessing children?
Observations are expensive, time consuming and requires extensive training
What are two examples of screening questionnaires used in children?
- Child Behaviour Checklist
- 18-60 months, parent or caregiver, 15 to 20 min, 3 point scale, cut off available - Infant Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment
- 12 to 36 months, parent or caregiver, 30 min to complete, 3 point scale, cut offs for age and sex
What are some issues with screening questionnaires for children?
Cut offs- scores may be between two numbers and children with scores only slightly below or above the cut off will be considered not to have a problem; also, scores are quite arbitrary as scores of 10 will mean different things to different people
Bias- children and parents may be biased (undermining or over exaggerating their child’s problems, or may not see the full extent of their child’s problems). Also cultural bias- some cultures may have less or more tolerance for their child’s behaviour.
What factors would need to be considered in a structured clinical interview with children?
Behavioural presentation- info on onset, duration, frequency and course of behaviour
Sensitivity of behaviour to context- a child may have disruptive behaviour at home, for example, but behave fine at school
Info on distress and impairment should be monitored
Give 3 examples of selected attachment measures
Strange situation- lab assessment for babies- 9 to 18 months although this is only appropriate for younger children as older children are often separated
Attachment Q set- home assessment for children aged 1-5 years
Manchester child attachment story task- children 4-8 years old in a home assessment who were asked to reenact scenarios with dolls- older children use symbolic language
How can a researcher assess the emotional quality of the parent-child relationship?
Parents and children may have opposing views of the issue so it is important to structure a possibly stressful task in order to test these limits.
What is an example of a measure used widely to measure emotional attachment for a parent-child?
Caregiver is asked to talk for five mins about their child and relationship with child over last six months, without asking any questions. This aspect can be challenging- deliberate as it puts people under pressure so any negativity can be revealed.
What coding categories are used to measure this emotional attachment?
Initial statement, warmth, emotional over-involvement, relationship, critical comments and negative comments. High vs low expressed emotion can further be categorised by this- effective method as it does not take that long to collect the data
What are some ethical issues with conducting research in children?
Issues of consent in children
Investigator should use no research procedure that may harm the child either physically or mentally- researcher is obliged to use the least stressful procedure at all times.
