Published in:
01-02-2019 | Original Article
Reliability and validity of the translated Chinese version of Autism Spectrum Rating Scale (2–5 years)
Published in: World Journal of Pediatrics | Issue 1/2019
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Background
Early autism screening is of great value, but there is lack of a screening tool of early age (2–5 years) in China. The Autism Spectrum Rating Scale (ASRS, 2–5 years) is a newly developed autism screening tool in the USA. This study aimed to evaluate the reliability and validity of the translated Chinese version of ASRS (C_ASRS) in Chinese children population before its application in China for early autism screening.
Methods
Caregivers of general children aged 2–5 years from 17 kindergartens and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) cases from five special education schools in five cities were recruited to complete the C_ASRS. 1910 valid questionnaires from kindergarteners and 192 from ASD cases were included for analyses.
Results
The item reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) was more than 0.80 in the screening scale and DSM-5 scale, and 0.51–0.81 in the treatment scale. ASD cases scored higher on total score and most subscales compared to the kindergarteners (Cohen’s d ranging from 1.34 to 3.37). C_ASRS showed good discriminatory validity with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.850 (95% confidence interval: 0.819–0.881). The cutoff ≥ 60 achieved sensitivity of 65.63% and specificity of 85.63% in discriminating autism children from the general population.
Conclusion
The results indicate that C_ASRS (2–5 years) could be used as an early level-2 screening tool for autism screening in China and should be further revised for level-1 screening.