Autor(es): Russo, Vanessa ; Barata, M. Clara ; Alexandre, Joana ; Leitão, Catarina ; Sousa, Bruno de
Data: 2022
Identificador Persistente: https://hdl.handle.net/10316/111972
Origem: Estudo Geral - Universidade de Coimbra
Assunto(s): playgroups; validity; reliability; quality assessment; process quality; early childhood education and care (ECEC); supported playgroups; play
Playgroups are community-based services that bring together young children and their caregivers for the purpose of play and social activities. Preliminary evidence shows that playgroup impacts may be dependent on the quality of the playgroup. However, to date, there is no reliable and valid measure of playgroup quality. In this paper we describe the development and validation of the Playgroup Environment Rating Scale (PERS), a standardized observation measure designed to assess the quality of playgroups. PERS builds on traditional measures used to evaluate the quality of formal settings of early childhood education and care, while proposing to assess dimensions of quality specific to the nature of playgroups, namely complex interactions between several types of participants. After developing and testing the observation measure on 24 playgroup videos, we analyzed the psychometric properties. Results showed that the PERS had good interrater reliability, was internally consistent and shows a good preliminary factor structure. Tests for convergent and criterion-related validity also presented promising results. The process of design guaranteed that the PERS can be applied to different contexts of playgroups and may also be useful for informing service planning and practice. Further national and international validation will help replicate the validity of the scale.
This study used data of the project “Playgroups for Inclusion” that was supported by the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity—PROGRESS (2007-2013) under the call VP/2013/012: Call for Proposals for Social Policy Experimentations Supporting Social Investments (Grant Agreement: VS/2014/0418). This study was also supported by a grant to the VR by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (PD/BD/128242/2016)
