Validity and reliability of maternal behavior rating scale (MBRS) and child behavior rating scale (CBRS)

The purpose of this study is to explore the validity and reliability of the Turkish versions of the Maternal Behavior Rating Scale (MBRS) and the Child Behavior Rating Scale (CBRS) used to evaluate pivotal behaviors of children with expressive language delays and developmental delays and interactional behaviors of their mothers.A hundred and twenty three mother-child dyads, ninety-three male and thirty female children with a mean age of 49 months (ranging from 16 to 72 months, SD: 11.9) and their mothers with a mean age of 32 years (ranging from 21 to 65 years, SD: 6.3) were the participants of the study. Seventy-three children had a diagnosis of expressive language delay, while 50 were diagnosed with developmentally delayed (14 children with mild intellectual disability and 36 children with autistic disorder).Demographic information regarding mothers and children was gathered via the information form developed by the researcher. Mother-child interactions were video-taped for an average of 15 minutes in a free-play context. Validity and reliability of Turkish versions of MBRS and CBRS were examined by exploring content validity (Construct, Concept, and Language Validity), construct validity (Exploratory Factor Analysis), Cronbach Alpha, and Item Analysis.Results revealed that Turkish version of MBRS included 12 items under three factors whereas 7-item Turkish version of CBRS had two sub-factors. High reliability results were also reported for all scales.Overall results indicated that Turkish versions of MBRS and CBRS are valid and reliable scales and can be used to evaluate pivotal behaviors of children with special needs and interactional behaviors of their parents.Key Words: Expressive language delay, developmental delay, parent-child interaction, evaluation of parent-child interactions