Evaluating Social Participation of Pupils with Special Needs in Regular Primary Schools

2009 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 213-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marloes Koster ◽  
Marieke E. Timmerman ◽  
Han Nakken ◽  
Sip Jan Pijl ◽  
Els J. van Houten

The study addresses the psychometric qualities of a new teacher questionnaire, the Social Participation Questionnaire (SPQ), to assess the social participation of pupils with special needs in regular primary education. The SPQ initially consisted of 34 statements related to four key themes of social participation: “friendships/relationships,” “contacts/interactions,” “pupil’s social self-perception,” and “acceptance by classmates,” yielding four respective subscales. A nonparametric item response analysis (Mokken scale analysis) was used to examine the quality of the SPQ. Based on the Mokken scale analysis results, ten statements were removed. The resulting four subscales appeared intermediate to strong. Because the double monotonicity model, based on the Mokken scale analysis, turned out to be well-fitted for each subscale, the subscale scores are on an ordinal scale, and the separate statements are invariantly ordered. The subscale scores are comparable across pupils with and without special needs, differential item functioning appearing to be absent. Subsequent analyses supported the division of statements into the four subscales. The SPQ as a whole and its subscales were found to be reliable. Finally, as regards social participation, differences between pupils with and without special needs were clearly found.

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (39) ◽  
pp. 109
Author(s):  
Marlina Marlina ◽  
Grahita Kusumastuti

<p>This article examines the social participation of students with special needs in four aspects, namely friendship, interaction, social self-perception, and  peers acceptance. This study discuss about the social participation of students with special needs in inclusive school. This research is descriptive quantitative and the relationship between the four aspects of social participation. The subject of this research are students with special needs and regular students in ten inclusive elementary school, Padang. The social self-perception was measured with three aspects such as the Self-Perception Profile for Children, The Self-Description Questionnaire and Peer Social Acceptance The results showed that the majority of students with special needs have a satisfying level of social participation. However, if compared with their peers (regular students), students with special needs are more likely to have difficulties on social participation. In general, students with special needs have fewer friends and have less cohesive friendship than their peers. In addition, students with special needs have less interaction with peers, more interaction with the teacher, and less accepted by their normal peers. Social self-perception of students with special needs and regular students are no different. There is no significant differences in social participation in both groups.</p><p> </p><p>Straipsnyje analizuojamas specialiųjų ugydymosi poreikių turinčių mokinių socialinis dalyvavimas keturiais aspektais: draugystės, interakcijos, socialinės savivokos ir bendramokslių priėmimo. Taip pat aptariamas jų socialinis dalyvavimas inkliuzinėje mokykloje. Be to, aprašomuoju būdu analizuojami kiekybiniai santykiai tarp šių keturių socialinio dalyvavimo aspektų. Duomenys buvo renkami iš tiek turinčių, tiek ir neturinčių specialiųjų ugdymosi poreikių mokinių, besimokančių dešimtyje inkliuzinių pradinių mokyklų Padange. Socialinė savivoka buvo tiriama trimis aspektais: vaikų<br />savivokos profilis, savęs apibūdinimo klausimynas ir bendramokslių socialinis priėmimas. Rezultatai parodė, kad dauguma specialiųjų ugdymosi poreikių turinčių mokinių demonstruoja patenkinamą socialinio dalyvavimo lygį. Kaip bebūtų, lyginant su jų bendramoksliais (įprastos raidos mokiniais), yra labiau tikėtina, kad jiems kyla sunkumų socialiai dalyvauti, jie turi mažiau draugų ir jų draugystė ne tokia glaudi. Be to, jie daugiau bendrauja su savo mokytoja (-u) ir yra mažiau priimami specialiųjų ugdymosi poreikių neturinčių bendramokslių, kurių socialinė savivoka skiriasi.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhongquan Li ◽  
Xia Zhao ◽  
Ang Sheng ◽  
Li Wang

Abstract Background Anxiety symptoms are pervasive among elderly populations around the world. The Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (the GAI) has been developed and widely used in screening those suffering from severe symptoms. Although debates about its dimensionality have been mostly resolved by Molde et al. (2019) with bifactor modeling, evidence regarding its measurement invariance across sex and somatic diseases is still missing. Methods This study attempted to provide complemental evidence to the dimensionality debates of the GAI with Mokken scale analysis and to examine its measurement invariance across sex and somatic diseases by conducting differential item functioning (DIF) analysis among a sample of older Chinese adults. The data was from responses of a large representative sample (N = 1314) in the Chinese National Survey Data Archive, focusing on the mental health of elderly adults. Results The results of Mokken scale analysis confirmed the unidimensionality of the GAI, and DIF analysis indicated measurement invariance of this inventory across individuals with different sex and somatic diseases, with just a few items exhibiting item bias but all of them negligible. Conclusions All these findings supported the use of this inventory among Chinese elders to screen anxiety symptoms and to make comparisons across sex and somatic diseases.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisong Zhang ◽  
Zhongquan Li

Abstract Background The aging population increases rapidly across the world. Timely and effective screening of their mental-health problems is important to individuals, families, and the whole society. The Kessler-6 screening measure (K6) is a very popular instrument for non-specific psychological distress. However, few studies have focused on the psychometric properties of this instrument in the older population. Methods The present study employed Mokken scale analysis to evaluate its dimensionality and structure. This study also used differential item functioning (DIF) to examine whether the same structure existed across sex in a national representative sample of old Chinese people. Data were drawn from a public data set, the 2010 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS2010), and responses from a total of 6450 participants aged 60 years old and above (3136 males and 3314 females) were included in the final analysis. Results Mokken scale analysis supported the unidimensional structure of the K6. Differential item functioning (DIF) analysis revealed that two of the six items (“Hopeless” and “Everything was an effort”) were marked for DIF based on the Chi-square. However, their impacts were negligible in terms of McFadden’s pseudo R2. Conclusions The K6 demonstrates adequate psychometric properties in the old Chinese population. The sum of all six items can be used as an indicator of non-specific psychological distress. Differences in the indicator across sex should be considered as a real difference in psychological distress between the female and the male.


2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 839-867 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirko Antino ◽  
Jesús M. Alvarado ◽  
Rodrigo A. Asún ◽  
Paul Bliese

The need to determine the correct dimensionality of theoretical constructs and generate valid measurement instruments when underlying items are categorical has generated a significant volume of research in the social sciences. This article presents two studies contrasting different categorical exploratory techniques. The first study compares Mokken scale analysis (MSA) and two-factor-based exploratory techniques for noncontinuous variables: item factor analysis and Normal Ogive Harmonic Analysis Robust Method (NOHARM). Comparisons are conducted across techniques and in reference to the common principal component analysis model using simulated data under conditions of two-dimensionality with different degrees of correlation ( r = .0 to .6). The second study shows the theoretical and practical results of using MSA and NOHARM (the factorial technique which functioned best in the first study) on two nonsimulated data sets. The nonsimulated data are particularly interesting because MSA was used to solve a theoretical debate. Based on the results from both studies, we show that the ability of NOHARM to detect dimensionality and scalability is similar to MSA when the data comprise two uncorrelated latent dimensions; however, NOHARM is preferable when data are drawn from instruments containing latent dimensions weakly or moderately correlated. This article discusses the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisong Zhang ◽  
Zhongquan Li

Abstract BackgroundThe aging population increases rapidly across the world. Timely and effective screening of their mental health problems is important to individuals, families, and the whole society. The Kessler-6 screening measure (K6) is a very popular instrument for non-specific psychological distress. However, few studies have focused on the psychometric properties of this instrument in the older population.MethodsThe present study employed Mokken scale analysis to evaluate its dimensionality and structure, and used differential item functioning (DIF) to examine whether the same structure existed across sex in a national representative sample of old Chinese people. Data were drawn from a public data set, the 2010 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS2010), and responses from a total of 6450 participants aged 60 years old and above (3136 males and 3314 females) were included in the final analysis.ResultsMokken scale analysis supported the unidimensional structure of the K6. Differential item functioning (DIF) analysis revealed that two of the six items ("Hopeless" and "Everything was an effort") were marked for DIF based on the Chi-square. However, their impacts were negligible in terms of McFadden's pseudo R 2.ConclusionsThe K6 demonstrates adequate psychometric properties in the old Chinese population. The sum of all six items can be used as an indicator of non-specific psychological distress. Differences in the indicator across sex should be considered as a real difference in psychological distress between the female and the male.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisong Zhang ◽  
Zhongquan Li

Abstract Background The ageing population increases rapidly across the world. Timely and effective screening of their mental health problems is important to individuals, families and the whole society. The Kessler-6 screening measure (K6) is a very popular instrument for non-specific psychological distress. However, few studies have focused on the psychometric properties of this instrument in the elderly population. Methods The present study employed Mokken scale analysis to evaluate its dimensionality and structure, and employed differential item functioning (DIF) to examine whether the same structure existed across sex in a national representative sample of old Chinese people. Data were drawn from a public data set, the 2010 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS2010), and responses from a total of 6450 participants aged 60 years old and above (3136 males and 3314 females) were included in the final analysis. Results Mokken scale analysis supported the unidimensional structure of the K6. Differential item functioning (DIF) analysis revealed that two of the six items ("Hopeless" and "Everything was an effort") were marked for DIF based on the Chi-square. However, their impacts were negligible in term of McFadden's pseudo R2. Conclusions The K6 demonstrates adequate psychometric properties in the old Chinese population. The sum of all six items can be used as an indicator of non-specific psychological distress. Differences in the indicator across gender should be considered as a real difference in psychological distress between the female and the male.


2010 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marloes Koster ◽  
Alexander E. M. G. Minnaert ◽  
Han Nakken ◽  
Sip Jan Pijl ◽  
Els J. van Houten

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisong Zhang ◽  
Zhongquan Li

Abstract Background The aging population increases rapidly across the world. Timely and effective screening of their mental-health problems is important to individuals, families, and the whole society. The Kessler-6 screening measure (K6) is a very popular instrument for non-specific psychological distress. However, few studies have focused on the psychometric properties of this instrument in the older population. Methods The present study employed Mokken scale analysis to evaluate its dimensionality and structure. This study also used differential item functioning (DIF) to examine whether the same structure existed across sex in a national representative sample of old Chinese people. Data were drawn from a public data set, the 2010 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS2010), and responses from a total of 6450 participants aged 60 years old and above (3136 males and 3314 females) were included in the final analysis.Results Mokken scale analysis supported the unidimensional structure of the K6. Differential item functioning (DIF) analysis revealed that two of the six items ("Hopeless" and "Everything was an effort") were marked for DIF based on the Chi-square. However, their impacts were negligible in terms of McFadden's pseudo R2.Conclusions The K6 demonstrates adequate psychometric properties in the old Chinese population. The sum of all six items can be used as an indicator of non-specific psychological distress. Differences in the indicator across sex should be considered as a real difference in psychological distress between the female and the male.


Author(s):  
Jeremiah M. Moruri ◽  
Naftali K. Rop ◽  
Ruth J. Choge

Mainstreaming is a concept and practice of educating learners with challenges in regular education settings. Mainstreaming advocates for education of all categories of learners without discriminating the specific group of individuals with disabilities. The study sought to assess strategies used by teachers in readiness for mainstreaming of learners with special needs in public primary schools in Masaba South Sub County, Kisii County, Kenya. The study was underpinned by the Social Model of Disability theory. Simple random sampling was used to select a sample of 234 teachers while purposive sampling was used to select the 25 headteachers from the schools which were used in the study. Questionnaires were employed for data collection. A pilot study was carried out in one of the schools within the study area. The study adopted survey research design to investigate the study variables. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used in analyzing data. The findings of the study found out that teachers’ attitude, professional development and experience influence mainstreaming. The study also observed that for mainstreaming to be achieved, the curriculum needs to be structured, teachers should be trained in special needs education, and the school environment should meet the needs of learners with special needs. It is recommendable that the government and all education stakeholders should jointly enhance expansion of facilities in the already established schools. This will encourage all teachers, trained or not to be ready to handle all categories of learners in the mainstream settings in Masaba South Sub County.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Salwa M. Khusheim

Social integration of special need students is viewed as a necessary phenomenon for the skills&rsquo; development which adds quality to their lives and provides them with satisfaction. This study explores the perception and attitude of the teachers towards social integration as a general school policy. A total of 150 individuals were selected from the integrated primary schools in KSA. Survey approach was employed to collect data using a close-ended questionnaire which was then statistically analysed. The results revealed that there is a positive impact of the social integration upon the special needs students. A statistically significant difference was found among participants based on their experience, education, and age. Moreover, there was significant difference in the attitudes of participants with Diploma in Education qualifications and Bachelor in Education qualifications towards integration. The study concluded that the implementation of the integrated school as general policy should be considered and an effective teacher training curriculum with special needs courses should be introduced.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document