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UBC Theses and Dissertations

Assessing positive youth development in school-aged children in Pakistan : a cultural adaptation of the Middle Years Development Instrument for research with children Kerai-Sayani, Salima

Abstract

Background: Over 90% of the world’s children live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where research and relevant instruments to measure child well-being and positive youth development (PYD) have been scarce. My dissertation research aimed to address this gap by translating and adapting the Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI), a Canadian child and youth self-report survey, into Urdu to create the Pakistani-MDI (P-MDI). The goals were to create a survey that was understandable and relevant for 10- to 15-year-old children in Pakistan and to examine its preliminary validity evidence. Methods: Informed by Lerner’s PYD framework, the International Test Commission’s translation and adaptation guidelines, and Zumbo’s validity framework, I conducted three consecutive studies using an instrument development design. In Study 1, I translated and adapted the MDI into Urdu with input from 19 local subject matter experts. In Study 2, I gathered feedback from 86 children through 16 focus group discussions to examine content-related validity evidence, including the acceptability and comprehensibility of P-MDI items. In Study 3, I implemented the survey with 2,233 children to examine the P-MDI scales’ factor structure, reliability, and interrelationships between them. Findings: In Study 1, expert feedback indicated that most scales were relevant for measuring child well-being and PYD in Pakistan and the translated P-MDI reflected the natural language expression and sociocultural context. In Study 2, children’s feedback, analyzed with modified content analysis, revealed cultural differences in some P-MDI measures, based on their perceptions and day-to-day experiences. These differences were addressed by making iterative modifications to the P-MDI content. In Study 3, psychometric analyses found that most P-MDI scales demonstrated acceptable internal consistency reliability and validity related to factor structure and the interrelationships within its scales. Conclusion: This research resulted in the development of the P-MDI, with preliminary validity evidence, supporting its interpretation and use for measuring positive development and well-being in children in Pakistan. The data generated from the use of the P-MDI could provide relevant information to data users (e.g., policymakers, researchers, and educators), supporting decision-making and advocacy for policies and programs promoting positive development in children in Pakistan.

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International