DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF THE CLASSROOM BEHAVIORAL AND EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS ASSESSMENT SCALE

Abstract

The research seeks to develop and verify the Classroom Behavioral and Emotional Problems Assessment Scale (CB-EPAS), a culturally relevant tool intended to evaluate behavioral and emotional challenges in children, specifically within the framework of Pakistani culture. The scale was created utilizing a mixed-methods approach, which included two focus groups with primary school educators, succeeded by content validation with four instructors. The initial questions were developed according to themes identified in the Developmental Psychopathology Framework (Cicchetti & Cohen, 2006), including emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, hyperactivity, defiance, low self-esteem, and associated symptoms. A preliminary set of 78 questions was refined by expert evaluation, yielding a final scale of 73 items, which underwent pilot testing (N = 100) and exploratory factor analysis. Factor analysis identified four principal factors: Impulsivity and Hyperactivity, Emotional Dysregulation, Defiance and Hostility, and Low Self-Esteem and Confidence Issues, culminating in a 46-item scale. The scale exhibited exceptional reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.98) and test-retest stability, validating its efficacy as a tool for detecting children's behavioral and emotional challenges. Moreover, evaluations of convergent and divergent validity demonstrated the scale's precision in differentiating between emotional and behavioral issues. This study underscores the scale's efficacy for educators and psychologists in recognizing and managing emotional and behavioral issues in children, especially in non-Western, culturally diverse contexts. Future study should investigate the scale's applicability across many groups and contexts, thereby establishing its cross-cultural reliability and efficacy in intervention implementation.