Validation and standardisation of the Croatian version of ASQ-3 for children aged 3 to 5 years

Ages & Stages-3 Questionnaire, 3rd edition (ASQ-3) is one of the most widely used instruments for early developmental screening for children with developmental delays. Paediatricians and preschool teachers apply ASQ-3 in their everyday practice. The aim of the research was to validate and standardize the Croatian version of ASQ-3. The study involved 368 parents who assessed children aged three to five years. The parents filled out the Croatian version of ASQ-3. The content and construct validity, as well as internal reliability, were checked. The norms for the Croatian sample of children were determined. The prevalence of developmental delays when Croatian norms were applied was compared to the prevalence of developmental delays when using the original American norms. The content validity was confirmed by the consent of three independent experts (psychologist, paediatrician and early intervention specialist), while moderate construct validity was determined by factor analysis. Internal reliability was generally low to moderate and was particularly low for the communication scale and personal-social area. The norms were calculated based on deviations below one standard deviation (mild criterion, suspected for the developmental delay), or below two standard deviations (severe, critical developmental delay). The results showed that parents estimated an equal number of children who showed developmental delays (suspected and critical for developmental delays) regardless of whether the Croatian or original American norms were applied. Minor deviations in the use of different norms were found only for the communication scale, where a higher number of children showed developmental delays (for both groups of children, suspected and critical for developmental delays) when Croatian norms were used compared to the American ones. It is concluded that the Croatian version of ASQ-3 proved promising as a screening test, although minor adaptations are needed, along with ecological and criterion validation check.

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