Validation of a Questionnaire Measuring the Psychological Risks and Harms Faced by Working Children Based on the Multidimensional Item Response Model

Abstract

Objective: The researchers aimed to design and validate a questionnaire to assess the most critical psychological risks and harms faced by working children.

Methods and Materials: To identify the psychological risks and harms faced by working children, the researchers systematically reviewed existing studies and literature in this field. Based on the most important findings, they designed the questions. After the design, content validity was confirmed through expert opinions using the Lawshe’s content validity ratio. The developed questions (63 items) were preliminarily administered to a sample from the target population, i.e., working children and their guardians, and after an initial analysis, the data of 2161 working children were entered into the analysis stage. This sample was selected through cluster sampling; however, in the final stage of cluster sampling, children and their guardians voluntarily participated in the study. The multidimensional item response theory was employed as a statistically reliable technique with the aim of dimensionality detection and determining the precision of each dimension’s measurement, and ordered theta was used to assess the reliability of the dimensions.

Findings: Two underlying dimensions were discovered, which were named based on the relationship and alignment of the questions with each dimension as: a) the psychosocial well-being dimension and b) the behavioral regulation dimension.

Conclusion: Accordingly, the psychological risks and harms faced by working children include psychosocial harms and an inability to exhibit appropriate behavior (behavioral regulation) in various situations. Previous research also confirms the presence of such harms in working children.