Stress in United States school psychologists: Development and preliminary psychometric properties of the School Psychologist Distress Inventory.

School psychologists have many roles and responsibilities that often lead to high stress levels. Wise (1985) authored the School Psychologists and Stress Inventory (SPSI), but it has not been updated substantially since its publication. We developed two studies to address the stressors faced by currently practicing school psychologists. Study 1 included 229 practicing school psychologists who evaluated the relevancy of the SPSI items and who listed five highly stressful events experienced considering the current context of practice. Based on these results, 13 SPSI items were removed, 21 SPSI items were revised, and 12 new items were added. The resulting measure, the School Psychologist Distress Inventory (SPDI), consists of 33 items and an additional item addressing overall stress. Study 2 examined validity evidence associated with the SPDI score structure. Using data from a sample of 350 practicing school psychologists, a sequence of exploratory factor analytic methods indicated the presence of a general factor of distress as well as four more specific factors, including Heavy Workload, Student Needs, Lack of Professional Support, and Parental and Legal Conflicts. Convergent relations and discriminant relations were evident between (a) SPDI total and subscales and (b) measures reflecting general stress level, role stressors, role overload, and job satisfaction. Examination of SPDI scores revealed they were not significantly related to age in years, educational levels, or school-psychologist-to-student ratio by state; however, lack of professional support was statistically significantly but weakly related to years of experience. Student needs were significantly more stressful across participants in the Western region of the United States than the Midwest region. Results from these two studies suggest the promise of using the SPDI to examine general and specific experiences of school psychologists' distress and they reveal that distress across school psychologists is remarkably high-especially in the area associated with having a heavy workload. Additional research with more racially and ethnically diverse samples of school psychologists would enhance confidence in using the SPDI as a measure of distress. Results suggest an urgent need to address structural influences on stress and personal coping strategies employed by school psychologists.

What does the Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment-II (NEPSY-II) measure in children ages 7 to 12? A structural and psychometric analysis.

The Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment - II (NEPSY-II) is a widely used assessment battery in pediatric settings, but its internal structure has not been adequately examined. This study employed a rational, empirical approach to examine the construct validity of 23 NEPSY-II subtest scores from children ages 7-12 (M = 9.99, SD = 2.76) in the NEPSY-II norming sample (N = 600; 50% girls). Competing higher-order models based on prior research, hypothesized NEPSY-II domains, and conceptual subtest classifications were evaluated via confirmatory factor analysis and a sequential approach to model comparisons. The results supported the multidimensionality of NEPSY-II subtests and the organization of subtests by hypothesized neuropsychological domains. The best fitting model included a general factor and four first-order factors. Factor loadings from the general factor to first-order factors were very strong. However, general factor loadings for most subtests were less than .50 (range = .21-.69, M = .44), and domain-specific effects for all subtests, independent of the general factor, were even lower (range = .00-.45, M = .44). Interestingly, all subtests demonstrated strong subtest-specific effects, but it is not clear what construct(s) the subtest-specific effects represent. Findings support NEPSY-II authors' emphasis on subtest-level interpretations rather than composite-level interpretations and highlight that NEPSY-II subtest scores should be interpreted carefully and with caution.

A bibliometric and content analysis of Best Practices in School Psychology.

Best Practices in School Psychology is one of the most influential books in school psychology history. Originally published in 1985 by Thomas and Grimes, it was the first book offered by the National Association of School Psychologists. Its six editions have been revised every 5-8 years. Utilizing Publish or Perish as well as cross-referenced tables of contents from Best Practices, a bibliometric analysis of its 589 chapters and 37 appendices was completed. Results yielded 15,812 citations in Google Scholar-most citations (6,448) stem from its fourth edition, published in 2002. One chapter by Good et al. (2002) was cited more than 400 times, and five other chapters were cited more than 300 times. In all, 42 chapters were cited more than 100 times. Content analysis revealed that most chapters primarily addressed domains reflecting data-based decision making and interventions. The 79 most cited chapters generated almost two-thirds of all citations, and at least one-third of the citations to each of the 10 most cited chapters emerged from student projects, such as theses and dissertations. The editors, authors, and reviewers of Best Practices have produced a massive number of chapters across six editions, and although these publications were initially intended to guide practicing school psychologists, they have had a substantial impact on scholarship, including student projects. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).