The touch inventory for elementary-school-aged children: test-retest reliability and mother-child correlations.
OBJECTIVE
The Touch Inventory for Elementary-School-Aged Children (TIE) is a self-report screening assessment for tactile defensiveness. The purpose of this study was to examine test-retest reliability of the TIE and to evaluate agreement between children's TIE scores and scores that mothers gave their children on a modified version of the TIE.


METHODS
Twenty-nine children, 6 to 12 years of age, were available for the test-retest portion of the study and were assessed with the TIE with a 1-week interval between sessions. Their mothers completed a modified version of the TIE.


RESULTS
Results indicated significant test-retest reliability (r = .91, p < .001), although a more conservative Kappa indicated only moderate agreement. The correlation between mothers' ratings and children's ratings was less significant (r = .56, p = .001), and Kappas were slight or fair, indicating considerable disagreement between mothers and children.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that using information from both mothers and children might provide a more complete picture of tactile defensiveness, but further research is needed before using a mother's assessment when the TIE is implemented as a standard procedure.
St. Mary's Regional Medical Center, Lewiston, Maine 04243, USA.
J W
JW
Bennett
C Q
CQ
Peterson
D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012677:Sensation / Q000502:physiology; D012678:Sensation Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology