title: Construct validity and reliability of the Music Attentiveness Screening Assessment (MASA).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Music as alternate engagement (MAE) can be used effectively to distract children during painful or anxiety-provoking medical procedures. For such interventions to be successful, it would seem important to assess the degree to which a child can attend to musical stimuli.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purposes of this study were as follows: (a) To establish construct validity by determining the extent to which the Music Attentiveness Screening Assessment (MASA) measures auditory attention; and (b) to gather evidence regarding MASA test-retest and inter-observer reliability.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Auditory Attention (AA) subtest from the NEPSY-II (NEPSY, Second Edition) and the two items from MASA were administered to a nonclinical sample of children (N = 50) aged 5 to 9 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a statistically significant proportion of AA score variance shared with MASA (both items), R (2) = .21, F(2, 47) = 6.34, p = .004. Test-retest reliability on the first MASA item was moderately high (Pearson r = .84) while on the second item it was lower (r = .63). Similarly, interobserver agreement was high for Item I (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] = .95) and lower for Item II (ICC = .71).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Evidence suggests that MASA measures, at least in part, auditory attention. Despite this finding, a large proportion of unexplained variance remains. Furthermore, reliability estimates (test-retest and interobserver agreement) differ between both items. These findings are discussed with particular attention paid to the ways in which MASA should be revised and further study conducted.
authors.affiliation: University of the Pacific University of the Pacific ewaldon@pacific.edu.
authors.forename: Eric G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Waldon
authors.affiliation: University of the Pacific University of the Pacific.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Broadhurst
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009146:Music; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards
keywords: attention; music; music therapy; pediatrics; reliability; test development; validity