title: A brief assessment of learning for orphaned and abandoned children in low and middle income countries.
abstract: Assessment of children's learning and performance in low and middle income countries has been critiqued as lacking a gold standard, an appropriate norm reference group, and demonstrated applicability of assessment tasks to the context. This study was designed to examine the performance of three nonverbal and one adapted verbal measure of children's problem solving, memory, motivation, and attention across five culturally diverse sites. The goal was to evaluate the tests as indicators of individual differences affected by life events and care circumstances for vulnerable children. We conclude that the measures can be successfully employed with fidelity in non-standard settings in LMICs, and are associated with child age and educational experience across the settings. The tests can be useful in evaluating variability in vulnerable child outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Policy, Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC 27705, USA. odonn002@mc.duke.edu
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: O'Donnell
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ostermann
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Masnick
authors.forename: Rachel A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Whetten
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Madden
authors.forename: Nathan M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Thielman
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Whetten
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002670:Child, Abandoned / Q000523:psychology; D054540:Child, Orphaned / Q000523:psychology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D003906:Developing Countries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D009042:Motivation; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011340:Problem Solving; D018570:Risk Assessment