The educational skills self-competence scale for parents of children with autism spectrum disorder: A validity and reliability study

Abstract

Aim: This study aims to develop an educational skills self-competence scale for parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Methods: In the current study, the self-competence scale regarding the educational skills of parents having a child identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder was developed, and validity and reliability studies were conducted. The scale development process included generating the scale items, studies on the content, and face validity, conducting a pilot study, item analysis, conducting EFA and CFA, and reliability studies. Results: The factor loadings of the items included in the scale range from 0.50 to 0.812. The 6-factor structure explains 65.151% of the total variability as a result of the exploratory factor analysis. Cronbach alpha coefficient of the scale was found to be .921 for cognitive skills, .937 for language and communication skills, .854 for social and emotional skills, .874 for problem behaviors, .837 for psychomotor skills, and .837 for self-care skills. It is seen that the overall reliability coefficient of the scale was calculated as .962. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to determine the quality and overall structure of the factors calculated, and the extent to which the scale explains self-competence regarding parents’ educational competencies. Conclusion: Data is a good fit with the model; and the 6-dimensional structure consisting of 40 items was confirmed. As a result of the study, it was concluded that the scale could measure the self-competency regarding the educational competencies of parents having children identified with ASD.