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Validity of the school setting interview: An assessment of the student-


environment fit

Article  in  Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy · July 2009


DOI: 10.1080/11038120410020683

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SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY 2004;11:171 /178

Validity of the School Setting Interview: An Assessment of the



Student Environment Fit
/

HELENA HEMMINGSSON1, ANDERS KOTTORP2 and BIRGITTA BERNSPÅNG2


From the 1Karolinska Institutet, Neurotec Institution, Department of Occupational Therapy, Stockholm, Sweden and 2Umeå University, Umeå,
Sweden

Hemmingsson H, Kottorp A, Bernspång B. Validity of the school setting interview: an assessment of the student /
environment fit . Scand J Occup Ther 2004; 11: 171 /178.
The School Setting Interview (SSI) is an internationally used client-centred interview assessment that
specifically investigates the student /environment fit for students with physical disabilities. In this study the
Rasch measurement model was used to examine validity of the SSI; specifically, whether or not the SSI
measures a unidimensional construct. Data for analysis included SSI assessments of 87 Swedish students with
physical disabilities aged between 8 and 19 years of age. The results of the Rasch analysis revealed that all items
had acceptable infit MnSq and z values supporting evidence of construct validity of the SSI. The established
order of the difficulty of the items was also shown to be in acceptable congruence with the theoretical basis for
item development. In addition, the analysis revealed aspects of the SSI that need improvements, such as the
need for more challenging items and refinements of the manual. Further investigations of validity in different
cultural contexts are recommended. Key words: disabilities, School Setting Interview, student /environment fit.

Occupational therapists have an important role in centred interview assessment specifically developed for
schools with regard to students with disabilities. Laws students with physical disabilities who have some type
and international agreements in Sweden as well as in of motor dysfunction as a result of, for example,
many other Western societies require that children cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscle diseases, and
with disabilities should have access to normal educa- rheumatoid arthritis. The theoretical foundations
tional experiences in regular schools [1 /5]. In spite of used for the SSI are the Model of Human Occupation
this, schools are generally planned and organized for (MoHO) [15], and client-centred practice [16]. For the
children without disabilities, who for example can purposes of the SSI, the student /environment fit is
walk independently, and have intact vision and age- operationalized as the level of the student’s needs for
appropriate writing skills As a result, the student / adjustment in school. In the SSI adjustments are
environment fit, meaning the match between charac- defined as changes in the environment and/or in the
teristics of the student and characteristics of the student’s interaction with the environment in order to
school environment, for students with disabilities increase the fit. In accordance with occupational
may not be considered a good fit when compared
therapy literature [17] the term adjustment as it is
with students without disabilities.
used here refers to how aspects of the external
Occupational therapists are well suited to enforce
environment influence the student’s functioning and
the inclusion of students with disabilities in regular
participation, and does not primarily address the
school environments by providing professional gui-
person’s internal adaptation process to the environ-
dance and support with such things as environmental
ment. A high level of student/environment fit is
adjustments, technical aids, and information and
education to other team members [6 /9]. In order to achieved when there is a match between the character-
provide effective support in schools, occupational istics of the student and the characteristics of the
therapist need assessments to investigate the environment, and consequently no adjustments are
student /environment fit, and thereby identify the needed. A low level of student /environment fit is
need for occupational therapy interventions in school characterized by the student reporting unmet needs
[7, 9, 10]. Available occupational therapy assessments for adjustment in several different school activities as a
for children with disabilities in pre-school or elemen- result of a low match between the characteristics of the
tary school are the School Function Assessment (SFA) student and the characteristics of the environment.
[11] and the School AMPS [12]. An occupational The term need is used in the sense of functional needs,
therapy assessment that specifically examines the level i.e. what is needed to do a particular job [18]. In the
of student /environment fit of students with disabil- SSI, needs refers to the student’s experience of what
ities from about 10 years of age and older is the School adjustments he or she thinks are needed to accomplish
Setting Interview (SSI) [13, 14]. The SSI is a client- the demands of the school.

# 2004 Taylor & Francis. ISSN 1103-8128 DOI: 10.1080/11038120410020683


172 H. Hemmingsson et al.

The SSI has been developed from a first version, SSI content validity and they judged the items to be
1.0, that encompassed 11 items (i.e. questions) with a adequate for the assessment’s intended purpose. How-
three-step rating scale, to SSI 1.1 that included 14 ever, both panels suggested some additional items
items (see Table I) [13, 14] concerning school activities concerning physical accessibility and social interac-
where students with physical disabilities typically tion, which have been incorporated in SSI 1.1 (see
experience needs for adjustments. In the most recent Table I). Further development and improvement of
version, the SSI 2.0, the rating scale has been further the psychometric properties of the SSI is needed if it is
developed and currently includes a four-step rating to remain a useful and effective assessment. A very
scale. In this study, however, only data from the SSI urgent question, with reference to psychometric prop-
1.0 and the SSI 1.1 are included. For clarification, the erties, is the construct validity, i.e. whether the SSI
items (i.e. the questions concerning school activities) measures the concept of student /environment fit as it
in the SSI address the activities needed to complete a is supposed to do. An important step in such an
task in school. For example, the item ‘‘reading’’ evaluation is to investigate whether or not the items
includes such things as reading various types of texts, included in the SSI form a unidimensional construct.
turning pages, putting away and taking out materials, Modern test theory (e.g. Rasch measurement mod-
and does not specifically address the student’s reading els) are used to test psychometric properties of existing
capacity. Likewise, the item ‘‘taking breaks’’ includes tests, as well as for developing tests [20 /22]. The
both social interaction activities and activities of daily Rasch measurement model specifically addresses con-
life that typically occur during breaks, such as eating struct validity by providing indicators of how well
and toileting. each item fits an underlying unidimensional construct
An evaluation of reliability and validity of the SSI [20, 23], for example the level of student /environment
1.0 has been reported by Hemmingsson & Borell [19]. fit. The analysis is based on the following expecta-
Regarding interrater reliability, a kappa between 0.76 tions: (a) the more able a person, the better his/her
and 1.0 was found, indicating good agreement be- chances for success with any item; (b) the easier the
tween pairs of raters. Two expert panels investigated item, the more likely any person is to accomplish it
[21, 23]. In the Rasch measurement model, all items
Table I. Items included in the School Setting Interview and persons are placed on a one-dimensional con-
tinuum, representing samples of the characteristics
Activity items being measured but at different points on the con-
1. Writing: taking notes, writing reports, using computers? tinuum, meaning that some items are easier for most
2. Reading: small letters, maps, diagrams, turning pages, persons and some are harder [20, 21, 24, 25]. The
putting away and taking out materials? Rasch measurement model also evaluates person
3. Speaking: answering questions, raising hand to answer response validity based on whether or not the
questions, participate in group work?
4. Remembering things: daily schedule, location of responses derived from persons on the items corre-
classrooms, information for exams and homework, use spond to the assertions made. Further examination of
of homework notepad? evidence of construct validity is supported by match-
5. Doing mathematics: writing numbers, drawing curves, ing the empirical hierarchical ordering of items with
use of special equipment? the theoretical basis for item development [20].
6. Doing homework: need for assistance, from whom,
personal, technical equipment? An advantage of the Rasch measurement model is
7. Taking examinations: oral, written or using a computer, that it is quite robust in the face of missing data. That
more time, quiet room, assistance? is, the model does not require a perfectly complete
8. Going to art, gym and/or music: getting in and out of gym matrix of numerical values as the starting point of
clothing, participating in outdoor days, using art supplies? calculation [20, 26]. With regard to the SSI, it means
9. Getting around the classrooms: accessibility of desks in
classroom, work area, transferring in classroom? that data from both the SSI 1.0 and the SSI 1.1 could
10. Taking breaks:a recess, interacting with friends, lunch, be included in the same analysis although comprising
bathroom breaks, do you have enough time?a different numbers of items. For these reasons, the
11. Going on fieldtrips: accessible transportation, wheelchair Rasch measurement was determined to be an appro-
accessible facility, need for special wheelchair? priate method for further investigation of the validity
12. Getting assistance: from whom do you get assistance,
availability and timing of assistance, comfort in asking for of the SSI.
assistance? The overall aim of the study was to investigate
13. Accessing the school:a transferring between classrooms, evidence concerning the validity of the School Setting
library, cafeteria, playgrounds, evacuation during Interview. Specifically, (1) whether or not the SSI
emergencies?
measured a unidimensional construct, (2) whether or
14. Interacting with staff:a teachers, assistants, therapists?
not the students’ response patterns were consistent
a
Not included in SSI version 1. with the Rasch measurement model, and (3) whether
Validity of the school setting interview 173

or not the hierarchy of items agreed with the theore- dance with the manual, a cooperatively discussion
tical basis for item development. between the student and the therapist was held
subsequent to the scoring of each item [13]. As
mentioned earlier, the student took the final decision
METHODS as to whether he or she needed any new adjustments in
Participants school.
Data collected in a database from three different
studies of student /environment fit in schools for
students with physical disabilities using the SSI 1.0 Instrumentation
and the SSI 1.1 were used [27]. A detailed description The development of the assessment is described in
of the sampling procedure is presented elsewhere [27]. more detail elsewhere [19, 27]. For the present study,
In total, the present study included 87 students with however, some clarifications concerning the theoretical
physical disabilities aged between 8 and 19 years of basis for the item analysis are required. As mentioned,
age. A majority of the students used wheelchairs for the concept of student /environment fit encompasses
mobility. About 40% attended a special educational both characteristics of the student and characteristics
class that comprised students with motor disabilities. of the environment. When developing the SSI it was
None of the students was characterized as having hypothesized that by focusing the questions on the
mental retardation (for student characteristics, see student’s actual doing (i.e. the activities needed to
Table II). Nearly all students were recruited by complete a task in school), both the influences of the
occupational therapists (n /30) from across Sweden, actual school environment and the student’s abilities
and all students were clients of the occupational for the task would be captured. In accordance with
therapists. occupational therapy theory [15, 28, 29] the character-
istics of the student, as well as the task and the
environment in which the task was carried out, would
Procedure influence successful participation in school. The
Forty-eight students attending specially adapted upper literature review and qualitative interviews with stu-
secondary schools were assessed by the SSI 1.0, and 39 dents [19] made it clear that tasks that were recurrent,
students attending regular schools at all different complex, and required both gross and fine motor
levels were assessed by the SSI 1.1. The SSI interview abilities should be the most challenging for students
was carried out at each student’s school. In accor- with physical disabilities [30 /32]. If these tasks were
combined with environmental demands such as time
Table II. Characteristics of the students requirements [33], and/or demanding transfer between
different localities, the challenge for students with
Total
physical disabilities would increase [32, 34, 35]. There-
Gender: n% fore, taking breaks, accessing the localities, going to
Boys 49 (56) art, gym and/or music, and getting around the class-
Girls 38 (44)
room were hypothesized to be challenging items for
Compulsory basic school: most students with physical disabilities. The items of
Junior level 2 (3)
speaking and interacting with staff, conversely, were
Intermediate level 18 (20)
Senior level 17 (20) hypothesized to be the least challenging. First, de-
Upper secondary school 50 (57) creased ability to speak and/or interact with staff are
Educational setting: not typical problems for most students with physical
Regular classroom 54 (62) disabilities [31]. Second, these items (activities) are not
Special educational classroom 33 (38)
heavily dependent on the environmental demands
Diagnosis: mentioned above. Each item is scored using a rating
Cerebral palsy 36 ( 42)
scale. After a discussion with the therapist, the student
Spina bifida 15 (17)
Muscle diseases 9 (10) (who knows his/her own characteristics and has
Arthritis 6 (7) experience of the school environment) rates how she/
Other diseases 21 (24) he perceives that the school environment fits her/his
Transport: characteristics. The three-step rating scale is as fol-
Walkinga 38 (44) lows: a score of 3 when the student perceives a perfect
Using a manual wheelchair 28 (32) fit and no adjustments are needed, a score of 2 when
Using a powered wheel chair 21 (24)
the student perceives a good fit because needed
a
Some of these students used a rollator and some occasion- adjustments are satisfactorily met, and a score of 1
ally used a manual wheelchair. when the student perceives no fit because needed
174 H. Hemmingsson et al.

adjustments are not met. In addition, a written were set at infit MnSq value 5/1.4 with an associated
explanation of any environmental adjustment is pro- z value 5/2 [26, 37]. It is generally expected that 5% of
vided on the form. Being a client-centred assessment, the items and persons will fail to meet this criteria by
it is the student who makes the final decision about chance at z 5/2. A test is therefore usually considered
whether any new adjustments in school are needed and unidimensional when 95% of the items fit the Rasch
thus whether any occupational therapy intervention is measurement model [20, 25]. Since the SSI has only 14
indicated or not. items the goodness-of-fit criterion for the SSI items
The overall frequency distribution of the ratings was set as no more than one misfitting item. In a
scores were as follows: the rating score 3 (no adjust- corresponding way person response validity is sup-
ments needed) was used in 45% of the individual ported if 95% of the students demonstrated expected
responses, rating score 2 (need for adjustments met) in response patterns, i.e. according to characteristics of
36% and the rating score 1 (need for environmental the student and the environment, passing easy items
adjustments not met) in 19% of the individual and failing challenging items.
responses. Low infit values, in this study MnSq values that are
5/0.5 and z value 5/ /2, were also of some interest in
this analysis as these values indicate less variability in
Rasch measurement analysis the data than the Rasch model predicts, i.e. items do
In order to conduct the analysis, the SSI’s ordinal data not differ between people, or that the people being
from the 87 participants were entered into the Rasch measured are too much alike in respect of the variable
measurement model computer software program of interest [20].
Minifac version 3.4 [36]. The computer program
generates item difficulty calibrations and person
ability measures and generates goodness-of -fit statis- RESULTS
tics used to estimate whether the items and persons Overall, the results provided evidence of validity of the
included in the SSI fit the assertions of the model [20, SSI when used to evaluate a heterogeneous group of
21, 23]. The assertions specifically made for SSI before students with physical disabilities. The analysis re-
testing the assessment’s psychometric properties with vealed that all items had acceptable infit MnSq and z
Rasch measurement analyses were as follows: (a) the values. While all items demonstrated acceptable good-
higher the level of student /environment fit, the more ness-of-fit to the Rasch measurements model, the
likely the student will have higher scores for all items; results suggested preliminary overall scale validity of
(b) easy items are more likely to be easy for all the SSI supporting construct validity of the SSI. The
students with physical disabilities than are more item separation was 2.33, meaning that the SSI
challenging items. separated the items into three different difficulty
The item difficulty calibrations, expressed in logits strata. Table III shows item hierarchy, SE, and infit
(log-odds probability units), indicate the difficulty of and outfit MnSq and z values.
the items. An item with a higher calibration value is It was also concluded that one of the items,
considered to be harder for all students compared with ‘‘Getting assistance’’, had an infit MnSq and z below
any item with a lower calibration value. The person the recommended values, indicating less variance that
ability measure, also expressed in logits, is the was expressed as similar scores across most persons.
estimated location of that person on the same line Further analysis revealed that within this specific item
that has been defined by the item difficulty calibra- the rating score 2 (needs for adjustments met) was
tions. used by most students indicating that the schools had
The computer program usually reports two types of provided the students with appropriate assistance.
fit statistics: infit and outfit MnSq and z statistics. The Concerning the item hierarchy in the SSI, as
mean square (MnSq) and z statistics are goodness-of- hypothesized the analysis demonstrated that ‘‘Taking
fit statistics (indicating the relation between the breaks’’ and ‘‘Assessing the localities’’ were the most
expected and observed responses) that enable evalua- challenging items for students with physical disabil-
tion of the extent to which the data fit the assertions of ities. Likewise, ‘‘Speaking’’ and ‘‘Interacting with
the Rasch measurement model. When item fit statistics staff’’ were the least challenging activity items (see
are acceptable it indicates that the scale can be judged Table IIII). Sports activities, however, which were
to be unidimensional. When person-fit statistics are hypothesized to be one of the most challenging items,
acceptable, they provide evidence of valid measures of were found to be an averagely challenging item.
persons [20, 24]. Figure 1 shows the distribution of the items and the
The criteria for acceptable goodness-of-fit to the students. The range of the student /environment fit
two-facet Rasch measurement model for this study measures is not fully covered by the range of the item
Validity of the school setting interview 175

Table III. Item Measurement Report

Real measure SE Infit Outfit

Items MnSq z Std MnSq z Std


Taking breaks 0.68 0.26 1.1 0 1.1 0
Accessing the school 0.62 0.28 1.4 1 1.4 1
The classrooma 0.58 0.18 1.2 1 1.2 1
Writing 0.53 0.18 0.9 /1 1.0 0
Examinationsa 0.40 0.17 1.1 0 1.1 0
Getting assistance 0.19 0.24 0.5 /4 0.5 /4
Fieldtripsa 0.10 0.19 0.8 /1 0.9 /1
Gym and/or musicsa 0.08 0.18 0.9 0 1.1 0
Mathematicsa /0.09 0.19 1.1 0 1.1 0
Homeworka /0.09 0.18 0.9 0 1.0 0
Reading /0.12 0.20 0.7 /2 0.7 /2
Rememberinga /0.71 0.22 1.3 1 1.5 2
Interacting with staff /0.81 0.38 1.4 1 1.5 1
Speaking /1.35 0.25 1.3 1 1.1 0
a
Note. For full name of the items see Table I.
Separation 2.33. Mean SE 0.22.

difficulty calibrations. Specifically, items to differenti- students evaluated in the study. Currently, the SSI
ate between the most able students (the students at the encompasses only 14 items, which may be too few to
top of the line) are lacking, indicating that the items accurately separate students into varying levels of
were relatively easy for the students included in the student /environment fit. Hence, adding more items
study. that are also more challenging would probably in-
Furthermore, the results suggest that when the SSI crease the separation and make the measurement of
was used to evaluate students with physical disabilities students more precise and thereby strengthen the
of varying ages who are attending different school psychometric properties of the assessment [20]. The
environments (i.e. special versus regular classes), design of new harder items needs careful consideration
students’ need for adjustments are consistent with and is one of the challenges in further development
the Rasch measurement model. The analysis revealed and improvement of the SSI.
that 5 of the 87 students demonstrated unacceptably With regard to the development of the SSI the
high infit MnSq and z values in respect of the Rasch present study answers the question as to whether or
measurement model. Since 94% of the students’ not the items included in the SSI form a unidimen-
response patterns demonstrated acceptable goodness- sional construct. A question that remains to investi-
of-fit to the Rasch measurements model, the results gate is whether or not the four-step rating scale in the
indicated acceptable overall person response validity. current SSI 2.0 has any advantages compared with the
three-step rating scale in SSI versions 1.0 and 1.1. For
example, it is possible that the four-step rating scale
DISCUSSION increases the separation of students. Further validity
The results support evidence of construct validity of studies are needed to gain insight into this issue.
the SSI in terms of scale validity. According to the infit It was noted that the item ‘‘Getting assistance’’
statistics the items included in the SSI formed a demonstrated infit MnSq and z values below the
unidimensional construct. Furthermore, the estab- recommended value (see Table III), indicating too
lished order of the difficulty of the items was shown little variability in the sample on the specific item [20].
to be in acceptable congruence with the theoretical Very interestingly, however, further analysis revealed
basis for item development. that the lack of variation in the scoring was a result of
A very satisfactory result, in respect of psychometric environmental circumstances. In fact, the schools had
properties, was that even though the students included most often met the students’ need for assistance. This
were a heterogeneous group of students with regard to finding is supported by Paulsson & Fasth [38], who
diagnosis, age, and type of educational participation found that two-thirds of the students with disabilities
most students’ response patterns were consistent with have access to an assistant in Swedish schools. Thus, in
the assertions used in the Rasch measurement model. the SSI, a low mean square might be an indicator of
Nevertheless, the item-student map (Fig. 1) demon- good student/environment fit if the lack of variability
strated that most items were relatively easy for the across scores is a result of schools most often having
176 H. Hemmingsson et al.

includes data from different countries. For that reason,


decisions regarding excluding the item ‘‘Getting assis-
tance’’ have to be based on a larger international
sample.
A limitation with the study is that data have been
collected in a specific cultural context (Sweden), which
in turn may have influenced the distribution of the
scoring. The relatively low proportion of unmet needs
(19%) found in this sample may partly be because all
students were currently clients of occupational thera-
pists. The relatively high proportion of met needs
(36%) furthermore indicates that school had success-
fully included students with disabilities according to
the laws and regulations [4, 39]. Therefore, evaluating
the SSI in another cultural context where schools do
not actively strive to include students with disabilities
and where students do not have access to school-based
occupational therapy services may result in a quite
different distribution of the rating scores. Further
validity studies of the SSI across different cultural
contexts are necessary to obtain insight into these
issues.
The item hierarchy revealed by the Rasch measure-
ment analysis showed that the item ‘‘Going to gym art
and/or music’’, which was hypothesized to be one of
the most challenging items, was an averagely challen-
ging item. One explanation may be the client-centred
scoring procedure in the SSI that results in an item
hierarchy based on the student’s priorities concerning
the areas where he/she finds adjustments most urgent
and not only where most problems are apparent. In
this study it was revealed that although a lot of
students identified problems in participating in sport,
several did not want any adjustments. From the
student’s perspective, a preferable solution sometimes
might be to be excluded from sports lessons [40]. The
item hierarchy of the SSI has clinical relevance since it
may guide occupational therapists’ priorities concern-
ing interventions in school for students with physical
disabilities. Based on the results in the present study,
occupational therapy interventions that increase par-
ticipation during break activities, accessing localities,
getting around the classroom, and writing should be
Fig. 1. Student-item map showing the range of the student / prioritized in order to support inclusion of students
environment fit measures and the range of the item difficulty with physical disabilities in regular schools.
measures. Finally, some results that have implications for
client-centred assessments will be discussed. The
met the student’s needs for adjustment within this frequency of ‘‘no need for adjustments’’ (45%) in
specific item. Bond & Fox [20] suggest excluding items relation to ‘‘needs for adjustment met’’ seems suspi-
with low goodness-of-fit, as they do not differentiate ciously high when considering distribution of students’
between people. Since the SSI is internationally used diagnoses, the high attendance in special educational
[15, 27] and not all countries have laws that easily give classrooms, and that more than 50% of the students
students with disabilities access to a personal assistant used a wheelchair for transport. Closer analyses of
in school, the low infit value for the item ‘‘Getting students’ response patterns suggest that the high
assistance’’ might be adjusted when the analysis proportion of the rating score 3 (no needs for
Validity of the school setting interview 177

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