Psychometric Testing of Behavior Assessment for Children

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the Behavior Assessment for Children (BAC) in a community of school-aged children in Taiwan. METHOD: A school-based sample comprising third grade and fourth grade students was recruited from Taichung City in Taiwan. The parents (n = 248) and teachers (n = 15) of these students completed structured questionnaires, including the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the proposed BAC. Content validity, concurrent validity, construct validity, internal consistency, and inter-rater reliability of the BAC were assessed. RESULTS: The BAC comprised three subscales (attention, emotion, and self-control) that included 17 items. The content validity index (CVI) score was 0.98. The result of the confirmatory factor analysis (goodness of fit = .90, root mean square of residual = .03, root mean square error of approximation = .06, and comparative fit index = .94) supported the construct validity of the three BAC subscales. The concurrent validity of the BAC subscales significantly correlated with the compatible CBCL subscales (r = .59-.78, p < .001). Cronbach α of the subscales of the BAC ranged from .78 to .92. The intraclass correlation coefficient between the parents and teachers ranged from .31 to .44, and the joint probability of agreement ranged from 31.4% to 92.2%. CONCLUSIONS: The BAC is a valid and reliable instrument for evaluating behavioral problems in schoolaged children.

Parenting confidence and needs for parents of newborns in Taiwan

Parenting confidence with regards to caring for their infants is crucial for the healthy adaptation to parenthood and the development of positive parent-infant relationships. The postpartum period is a tremendous transitional time for parents, so their unique needs should be considered. This study explored parenting confidence and needs in parents when their newborns are discharged from hospital, and explored the best predictors of parenting confidence and needs. A cross-sectional design with a questionnaire survey was used in this study. The questionnaire included three parts: Demographic, Parenting Needs and Parenting Confidence Questionnaire. We survey a convenience sample of 96 parents from a postnatal ward and a neonatal intermediate care unit of the medical central hospital in Taichung, Taiwan. The mean age of the subjects was 32 years and 67.7% of the subjects' education level was college or above. Approximately one half of the subjects was multiparous, vaginal delivery and had planned pregnancy. The mean gestational age and birth weight of the newborns was 37.7 weeks and 2902 g, respectively. Parents who had a planned pregnancy [t=2.1, P=0.04] or preterm infants [t=2.0, P=0.046] and those whose infants were delivered by cesarean section [t=2.2, P=0.03] had higher parenting needs. In addition, parents of low birth weight infants had higher parenting needs [r=-0.23, P=0.02]. Regarding parenting confidence, multipara parents perceived higher confidence than primipara parents [t=2.9, P=0.005]. Needs in psychosocial support were significantly correlated with parenting confidence [r=0.21, P<0.05]. The stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that parity and needs in psychosocial support predict parenting confidence of 13.8% variance. The findings of this study help care providers to identify parents with low parenting confidence at an early postpartum stage. Health care teams should provide appropriate psychosocial support and health education based on parents needs

Taiwanese medical and nursing student interest levels in and attitudes towards geriatrics

<p><b>INTRODUCTION</b>To investigate the attitudes of medical and nursing student towards the older Chinese population.</p><p><b>MATERIALS AND METHODS</b>A reliable and valid Chinese language version of Kogan's Attitudes toward Older People (KAOP) with 17 matched item pairs (34 items) was completed by 275 medical and nursing students. Descriptive data analysis was employed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Participants reported slightly to have a more positive attitudes (Mean, 144.30 +/- 17.89) than those reported from studies in other countries (Jordanian: Mean, 110.6 +/- 21.79). Students who were females (Mean, 148.27 +/- 18.97), younger (Mean, 146.01 +/- 18.59) and studying nursing (Mean, 156.86 +/- 17.56) were more likely to have a more positive attitudes than older (Mean, 140.04 +/- 15.31), males (Mean, 140.47 +/- 15.93), studying medicine (Mean, 138.77 +/- 15.04).</p><p><b>DISCUSSION</b>Results show that students may have greater ambivalence attitudes on 10 out of 17 matched item pairs which provides useful information for faculty involved in aged care curriculum design. Working as a volunteer in the university hospital may increase students' interactions with the elderly and may positively influence attitudes towards the elderly.</p>