Cross-cultural validation of a behavioral screener for executive functions: Guidelines for clinical use among Colombian children with and without ADHD.

Abstract

Garcia-Barrera, Kamphaus, and Bandalos (2011) derived a 25-item executive functioning screener from the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC), measuring 4 latent executive constructs: problem solving, attentional control, behavioral control, and emotional control. The current study included a cross-cultural examination of this screener in Colombian children with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). BASC teacher ratings were collected for Colombian children ages 6-11 years (848 healthy children [53% boys] and 155 children with ADHD [76% boys]). To examine the psychometric properties of the screener, a multistep procedure was implemented, including (a) confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and factorial invariance testing across gender, age group (6-8 years, 9-11 years), and ADHD status to replicate and extend the original derivation; (b) item response theory (IRT) analysis to evaluate the information provided by individual items; and (c) given IRT results, a repeated CFA and invariance testing after the exclusion of 1 item from the problem-solving factor. The 24-item 4-factor model fit was adequate for controls and for ADHD participants. Results support the use of the 24-item executive functioning screener in a cross-cultural context. In turn, in supplemental material, normative data for the Colombian sample are reported along with bilingual guidelines (i.e., Spanish/English) for implementing the screener in clinical practice. Even though the screener is useful when examining executive functions, it was not designed as a diagnostic measure for developmental disorders such as ADHD; as such, it should only inform about status of executive functioning.

Sensitivity and Specificity of an Executive Function Screener at Identifying Children With ADHD and Reading Disability

“…Complementing previous results on the BASC and BASC-2-EF (Garcia-Barrera et al, 2011, Garcia-Barrera et al, 2015, Garcia-Barrera et al, 2013; Karr & Garcia-Barrera, 2017; Sadeh et al, 2012), the current findings offer further psychometric evidence for the four-factor screener, and new evidence for the validity of the GSS at differentiating between typically developing children and those with ADHD. While the screener has been replicated multiple times using the original BASC (see Garcia-Barrera et al, 2014), this study is the first to replicate the screener using the BASC-2 with a mixed clinical sample, and the first study to offer evidence for a second-order executive function factor.…”

“…Although the BASC was not originally developed as a diagnostic measure for ADHD, the instrument has demonstrated clinical utility in aiding its diagnosis (e.g., Jarratt, Riccio, & Siekierski, 2005; Pineda et al, 2005). One previous evaluation of the original BASC found measurement invariance of the BASC-EF screener between children with and without ADHD, and also found ADHD status was a significant predictor of all four factors measured by the BASC-EF (Garcia-Barrera et al, 2015). Thus, the information gathered from the BASC-2 may assist researchers when making diagnostic decisions about participants in secondary data analysis.…”

“…A rich body of research has evaluated the utility of the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC) at assessing executive functions (Duggan, Garcia-Barrera, & Müller, 2018; Garcia-Barrera, Duggan, Karr, & Reynolds, 2014; Garcia-Barrera, Kamphaus, & Bandalos, 2011; Garcia-Barrera, Karr, Duran, Direnfeld, & Pineda, 2015; Garcia-Barrera, Karr, & Kamphaus, 2013; Sadeh, Burns, & Sullivan, 2012). Using the BASC-2 Teacher and Parent Rating Scales for Children (TRS-C and PRS-C, respectively), a past derivation study established the reliability and validity of the BASC-2-EF, a four-factor screener embedded in each form that effectively measured four executive-related constructs: problem solving, attentional control, behavioral control, and emotional control (Karr & Garcia-Barrera, 2017).…”

“…The current study consisted of a secondary data analysis of BASC-2 data collected among typically developing children and children with neurodevelopmental diagnoses, specifically ADHD and reading disability (RD). Although the original BASC-EF was validated in a sample with ADHD (Garcia-Barrera et al, 2015), the BASC-2-EF has only been derived using the BASC-2 normative data, consisting entirely of typically developing children (Karr & Garcia-Barrera, 2017), and it has yet to be clinically validated. Following previous research on the BASC-EF, the current study aimed to (a) replicate the four-factor model of the BASC-2-EF using a mixed clinical sample, (b) identify the sensitivity and specificity of the BASC-2-EF at classifying children with ADHD and RD diagnoses, and finally (c) produce provisional diagnostic cutoff scores for use in diagnostic decision making.…”

Derivation, Replication, and Validity Analyses of a Screener for the Behavioral Assessment of Executive Functions in Young Adults

“…Sadeh, Burns, and Sullivan (2012) independently showed that the four-factor model had adequate fit in a sample of kindergarteners at risk for developing behavior disorders ( N = 220). Empirical support has also been provided for the use of this instrument in preschoolers (Karr et al, 2013), and in clinical and cross-cultural samples (i.e., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Colombian children; Garcia-Barrera, Karr, Duran, Direnfeld, & Pineda, 2015). Garcia-Barrera et al’s (2011) multidimensional model may offer an effective and practical method for the screening of executive functions.…”