Construct Validity: A Unitary Concept for Occupational Therapy Assessment and Measurement

Abstract

Background:In the traditional view of validity, it is divided it into three sub-types: content, criterionrelated, and construct. Validity has recently been reconceptualized as a unitary factor known as construct validity. Five sources of construct validity evidence have been specified: test content, response processes, internal structure, relationships to other variables, and consequential aspects of construct validity. They function either as general validity criteria or as standards for all assessment and measurement. Purpose: The purpose of the manuscript is to present an overview of the contemporary conceptualization of construct validity and its relevance to occupational therapy practice, education, and research. Key Issues & Implications: Taken together, the five components of construct validity evidence provide a way of addressing the multiple and interrelated validity questions that need to be answered in order to justify occupational therapy test score interpretation and use by practitioners. Given the context of evidence-based practice, professional standards of practice, increasing calls for accountability, and the fact that validity of a test, instrument, or scale is now seen as being a dynamic process, it is important for occupational therapists to be conversant with this contemporary view of construct validity, and the body of validity evidence related to the assessment tools used in clinical practice.

External Validity of the Indonesian Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV-ID)

“…Validity is not determined by a single evidence of validation study, but by a body of research that demonstrates the relationship between the test and the behavior it is intended to measure. Brown (2010) described that validity is a unitary factor known as construct validity that consists of five sources of evidence. That evidence includes test content, response processes, internal structure, relations to other variable, and consequences of testing.…”

Examining construct validity of a new naturalistic observational assessment of hand skills for preschool‐ and school‐age children

“…The activity and hand skill items of the ACHS were found to exhibit a difficulty hierarchy in agreement with general clinical expectations. According to Brown (2010) and Lim et al (2009), this logical hierarchy could be viewed as evidence for the internal construct validity of the ACHS. The item-difficulty hierarchical structures hold further promise for clinicians to use when analysing children's hand skill patterns or targeting intervention to achieve hand skills at higher levels on the hierarchy.…”

“…The activity and hand skill items of the ACHS were found to exhibit a difficulty hierarchy in agreement with general clinical expectations. According to Brown () and Lim et al . (), this logical hierarchy could be viewed as evidence for the internal construct validity of the ACHS.…”

Life Participation for Parents: A Tool for Family-Centered Occupational Therapy

“…Further studies are needed to examine instrument sensitivity to change, the clinical utility of subscale scores, and the types of intervention that have the most positive effect on family-centered outcomes. These studies will further establish construct validity through more evidence of internal structures and relations to other variables (Brown, 2010). The preliminary data on how parental participation is affected by raising a child with special needs is intriguing.…”