Scale of Emotional Development-Questionnaire: A Systematic Approach to Improving Performance.

Researchers tested a questionnaire designed to understand the emotional development of people with intellectual disabilities. While the questionnaire showed promise in measuring important emotional aspects, many questions need to be improved before it can be reliably used. The tool is meant to help people better understand their own emotions and needs.

This study examined the Scale of Emotional Development-Questionnaire, a self-report tool designed to assess emotional development in people with intellectual disabilities. The questionnaire aims to provide insights into emotional needs and resilience while reducing prejudice and enhancing self-awareness. Testing with 134 participants with moderate to borderline intellectual disabilities revealed that while the questionnaire captures key aspects of emotional development with most items showing strong factor loadings (51.79%), significant refinement is needed. Multiple items showed moderate to low loadings or problematic correlations, indicating areas requiring improvement before the tool can be considered reliable for clinical use.

While promising as a self-report tool for emotional assessment in intellectual disability, significant refinement is required before clinical use. The tool may eventually complement existing proxy measures by providing the individual's perspective on their emotional development and needs.

Nearly half the questionnaire items require refinement due to psychometric issues. The study does not report intervention outcomes or long-term validity. Further research is explicitly stated as needed post-revision before clinical implementation can be recommended.

In people with intellectual disabilities, emotional development progresses more slowly or stagnates, which can result in challenging behaviours. The Scale of Emotional Development-Questionnaire was designed to chart people's own emotional development, providing insight into basic emotional needs and resilience, while reducing prejudice, enhancing self-awareness and improving emotional expression. The questionnaire was completed by 134 participants with moderate to borderline intellectual disabilities. Reliability, validity, internal structure and item performance were analysed to identify areas for improvement.

Preliminary analyses indicated the questionnaire captures key aspects of emotional development, with most items showing strong factor loadings (51.79%). However, multiple items may require refinement due to moderate loadings (30.00%), low loadings (18.21%), limited variance (3.93%) and negative-low correlations. The Scale of Emotional Development-Questionnaire is a promising self-report interview of emotional development, complementing the proxy perspective of the Scale of Emotional Development-Short. The findings highlight areas for improvement and the need for further research post-revision.