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Title The usefulness of the Draw-A-Person: Screening Procedure for measuring Emotional Disturbance (DAP: SPED) in South African children
Full text http://hdl.handle.net/10210/3231
Date 2008
Author(s) Kubierske, Francoise
Contributor(s) Dr. N. Coetzee
Abstract M.A. - South Africa is perceived as a country with many economic and social problems. These are stressors that put individuals at risk of developing emotional disturbance. Children, as the most vulnerable sector of society, have the least access to resources such as psychological intervention. A measurement instrument that can identify emotional disturbance within this high-risk group; that minimises the effects of formal learning, cultural and language barriers; and utilises the minimum of resources is needed. The Draw A Person: Screening Procedure for Emotional Disturbance (DAP: SPED) (Naglieri, McNeish & Bardos, 1991) is a screening test for emotional disturbance that seems to fulfil these criteria. The present study aimed to explore how useful the DAP: SPED is to identify children with emotional disturbance in South Africa. This involved comparing the scores of the DAP: SPED with those of an independent measure for emotional disturbance, the Beck Youth Inventory (BYI-II). To further explore the usefulness of the DAP: SPED, internal reliability and inter-rater reliability were examined. The DAP: SPED and the BYI-II were administered to a group of English-literate Grade 4 learners from two mainstream schools. The emotional status of the children was unknown, and scores from the BYI-II were used to provide this information. As the BYI-II was used as a control measure, the internal reliability coefficients of its subscales were investigated within the context of the present research. Internal reliability coefficients were good (r =.823 to r =.929, p<.01). A third measure, the Qualitative Questionnaire for Observed Behaviour in the Classroom (QQOBC) was completed by the teachers of participating learners. This measure was used to provide depth to the results as well as independently rate the children's behaviour.
Subject(s) Draw-A-Person Test; Emotional problems of children; Child psychology
Language en
Type of publication Thesis
Repository Johannesburg - University of Johannesburg
Added to C-A: 2010-07-06;10:44:07