CONTENT VALIDITY OF SELECTED ITEMS FROM THE SPEECH, SPATIAL AND QUALITIES OF HEARING SCALE FOR PARENTS (SSQ-P) AS MEASURED BY A SURVEY OF EXPERT OPINION

Introduction:

The purpose of this small-scale study was to assess the content validity of a modified subset of ten items from the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale for Parents (SSQ-P) via a survey of expert opinion.

Material and methods:

An online survey was used to obtain opinions from 10 experts in the field of children’s hearing and hearing assessment. Experts were asked to rate the relevance and representativeness of each SSQ-P item to deaf and hard of hearing children aged 5 years and over. Content validity was assessed by the item content validity index (ICVI), with excellent content validity identified as an ICVI above 0.8. Experts were also asked to suggest where they felt the wording of items could be improved.

Results:

For all items, ICVIs > 0.8 were obtained for both relevance and representativeness, indicating excellent content validity. Some minor rewording suggestions were made.

Conclusions:

The 10 items tested are candidates for inclusion in an abbreviated version of SSQ-P. Some minor rewording of items may be required, along with assessment of internal consistency and test–retest stability.