Acknowledgement to reviewers

No abstract available.

Advancing psychological assessment in Africa: Contributions from the African Journal of Psychological Assessment

No abstract available.

Establishing the content validity of an online depression screening tool for South Africa

Depression is a global concern as with an estimated 300 million individuals worldwide experiencing depression. In South Africa, the prevalence rate of depression is estimated at 9.7% of the population. With the increase in mobile internet usage in South Africa, an online depression screening tool could provide opportunities for the screening of depression symptoms aiding access to mental health interventions. This project identified an open access tool for screening depression, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale – Revised (CESD-R), and adapted it for online use by the adult South African population. This study followed on from the adaptation phase on the CESD-R and aimed to determine the content validity of the adapted CESD-R for online use in South Africa using the Consensus-based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) methodology. The study followed a two-phased design. Study one utilised a qualitative approach, where 50 experts commented on the content validity of the tool. The results were used to further adapt the tool which resulted in a 20-item depression screening tool. Study two followed a quantitative design in order to establish the content validity in terms of determining the Content Validity Ratios, Item-Content Validity Index as well as the Kappa Statistic of the 20 items. Based on these statistics, 19 of the 20 items were retained. Overall, the adapted online depression screening tool displays good content validity and holds potential as a screening tool where access to mental health may be limited.

Measures of executive functions predicting Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder core symptoms

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood disorder, and in many children, ADHD is thought to be aggravated by a deficit in executive functions (EFs). This study tried to establish whether commonly used neuropsychological tests of EF also predicted the core symptoms of ADHD, namely hyperactivity/impulsiveness (H/I) and inattention, as well as total ADHD symptomatology, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR). The participants were children from the Limpopo province, South Africa, aged from 6 to 15 years (M = 11.7 years; SD = 1.7). One hundred and fifty-six children (51.3% girls) were assessed by neuropsychological tests of EFs: the Tower of London (ToL), Digits Forward and Digits Backward, Trails-A and Trails-B and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Forward stepwise regression analysis was employed to predict H/I and inattention, as well as total ADHD symptomatology, based on DSM-IV-TR criteria. All the tests, except Trails-A, were found to predict ADHD symptomatology. The WCST (total errors) was the best predictor of all the ADHD symptoms and also for H/I and inattention separately, followed by Trails-B and Digits Backwards, which were found to predict more symptoms of inattention than H/I. Perseverative errors on the WCST predicted more H/I symptomatology, whilst non-perseverating errors were more associated with inattention. The ToL and Digits Forward predicted fewer ADHD symptoms. The ToL seemed more sensitive to inattention, whilst Digits Forward showed a stronger association with H/I. The WCST, Digits Backwards and Trails-B may be used to measure EF to support the diagnosis of ADHD in a clinical setting and to indicate cognitive impairment.

The development and validation of a graduate leader competency questionnaire: Arguing the need for a graduate leader performance measure

This article deals with the need for the conceptualisation and operationalisation of a modern graduate leader performance construct and the development and psychometric evaluation of a (graduate) leader competency questionnaire. The need for an investigation into the graduate leader performance construct is motivated against the backdrop of the availability of a new generation of leaders given the impending retirement of the world’s most senior management talent. Generation Y is singled out as a critical resource pool whose leadership potential needs to be tapped to enhance organisational performance and improve the economic fortunes of our country. However, it is pointed out that our understanding of this generation, as well as the psychological mechanism that determines how leaders influence various aspects of an organisation, work group or team to bring about optimal performance at a collective level, is fragmented and incomplete. Accordingly, we make suggestions for expanding contemporary conceptualisations of competency models so as to merge an expanded form of a competency model with the notion of a nomological network in providing a comprehensive explanation for the psychological mechanism that regulates graduate leader performance within organisational settings. The explication of such a competency model logically needs to start with the conceptualisation of the graduate leader performance construct. The validation of such a competency model will necessitate in future, amongst others, a measure of the competencies comprising the graduate leader performance construct as well.

Psychological assessment during and after the COVID-19 pandemic

No abstract available.

Assessing psychological well-being measures among South African adults in the birth to twenty plus cohort

Mental health and substance use disorders account for a significant proportion of disability worldwide. In many developing countries like South Africa, mental healthcare services are often inadequate, forcing people to find their own way of coping with distress and give meaning to their experiences. Therefore, this situation necessitates the conceptualisation and characterisation of the quality-of-life indicators, as well as psychosocial strategies to promote mental well-being. The objectives of this study were to assess the psychometric properties of psychological well-being (PWB) measures in the context of urban Soweto. Data were collected from participants in the Birth to Twenty Plus cohort (n = 1327), in 2018–2019. Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses conducted for measures of hope, faith, social support, general self-efficacy, and life satisfaction were taken from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Toolbox Emotion Battery. Cronbach’s alpha was used to determine internal consistencies; discriminant validity was assessed using Pearson correlations. Test-retest reliability analysis was conducted on a subset of participants at three time points which were at least 2 months apart. Overall, the measures of PWB were characterised as having unidimensional factor structures, good model fit indices, high internal consistency and reliability to the paragraph. This study demonstrated that the PWB measures evaluated here are psychometrically sound, and suitable to be used in the South African context.

The efficacy of the Senior South African Individual Scale Revised in distinguishing between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, normal and sluggish cognitive tempo children

The primary objective of this study was to determine whether attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) and a non-clinical (NC) group of learners perform differently on the Senior South African Individual Scale Revised (SSAIS-R). The rationale for this study is based on literature that argues for SCT to be considered as a separate and unique disorder to ADHD. The SSAIS-R results of 618 (7–17 years of age) children were analysed for the purposes of this study. The total sample consisted of three groups, that is, ADHD (n = 106), NC (n = 427) and SCT (n = 85). Between-group t-tests were performed to test for significant differences between the three groups with regard to the different SSAIS-R subtests. The results indicated significant differences between NC and ADHD, NC and SCT but not between ADHD and SCT. These results suggest that if SCT is considered to be a separate disorder from ADHD, then this is not evident in terms of the performance on the SSAIS-R. It is recommended that other cognitive and neuropsychological assessments be included in future research to ascertain whether SCT, if it exists, affects performance differently to ADHD.

Psychometric properties of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale amongst black South African university students

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread widely leading to a global public health crisis of a pandemic proportion. Whilst infection rates tend to fluctuate in South Africa, COVID-19 remains a life-threatening disease with the capacity to wreak fear and concern. The present study evaluated the psychometric qualities of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) amongst black South African university students (N = 433; Female: 58%; Mage = 23.51 [SD = 4.18]). The FCV-19S demonstrated a unidimensional factor structure and acceptable internal consistency (α = 0.87), Omega (ω = 0.88) and the greatest lower bound (GLB = 0.90) reliabilities. In addition, discriminant validity was demonstrated when FCV-19S items loaded separately from ordinary fear. The FCV-19S can be used as a measure of COVID-19-related fear amongst black South African university students.