Internal psychometric properties of the Children with Special Health Care Needs Screener.
OBJECTIVE
Insufficient research has established the measurement properties of the Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) Screener. This leaves unclear whether CSHCN Screener-based estimates reliably identify CSHCN. We used classical and modern test theory to establish the CSHCN Screener's internal psychometric properties.


METHODS
Data came from the 2005-2006 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN), a nationally representative survey of US children (N = 359,154).


RESULTS
Cronbach's α, a measure of internal reliability, equaled .76. Confirmatory factor analysis for ordered-categorical measures indicated that a single underlying trait that we label health-condition-complexity underlies CSHCN Screener responses. Item response theory showed that responses provide particularly precise measurement among children experiencing elevated health-condition-complexity trait levels.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings demonstrate that responses to the CSHCN Screener as used in the NS-CSHCN have good internal psychometric properties and include minimal random measurement error. Epidemiologists, clinicians and others can rely on CSHCN Screener responses to reliably identify CSHCN experiencing 1 or more of the 5 consequences included on the CSHCN Screener.
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Health Policy and Clinical Effectiveness, Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229, USA. adam.carle@cchmc.org
Adam C
AC
Carle
Stephen J
SJ
Blumberg
Charlie
C
Poblenz
D002648:Child; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000145:classification* / Q000453:epidemiology; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D019988:Children with Disabilities / Q000145:classification* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology