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Panel 3. Schooling and Education

Abstract

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The Assessment of the Utility of the Pictorial Measure of School Stress and Wellbeing Scale
Abstract
The theory of mind (Premack &Woodruff, 1978) posited that children as young as three years of age are capable of understanding what another person thinks and feels. The capacity continues to improve as the child increases in chronological age. Despite the postulation of the theory, the assessment of children tends to rely on a third party to elicit information about them, especially at the early childhood stage. However, the pictorial measure of school stress and wellbeing (PMSSW) scale (Murray & Harrison, 2005; 2014) was developed to assess kindergarten pupils’ school stress and adjustment directly. It contains ten pictures that are grouped into three clusters, namely, in the class activities, outside the class activities, and peer-related activities. It has six questions that pupils are asked at the presentation of each picture. The scale has a qualitative scoring format. To improve the utility of the scale, the present study adopted an exploratory research design, and the following objectives were examined: content validity, inter-rater reliability, quantification of the responses, internal consistency, establishment of norm scores, and convergent and divergent validity. Four hundred and two N = (402) kindergarten pupils participated in the study. They were selected from eight (8) schools in Anambra State, Nigeria. Their genders were comprised of boys (208, 52%) and girls (192, 48%). Their ages ranged from 5 to 6 years (M =5.61 years, SD =.518). The ethical approval was obtained from the Humanities and Social Sciences Ethics Committee, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria. Also, consent was obtained from pupils’ parents or caregivers through school authorities. The pupils that took part in the study were only those whose consent forms were approved. Additionally, before the commencement of the interview, pupils assent was obtained. The results showed that a substantial number of pupils recognized the pictures. In the ten pictures, a greater number of pupils accurately described them. For example, in picture 1, 366 pupils correctly described the picture, 12 were undecided, and 26 pupils did not recognize it. In picture 2, 294 pupils recognized it, 15 were undecided, and 93 did not recognize it. In the inter-ratter reliability assessment, two independent expert raters were employed. Their ratings were the same except for picture 9, in which rater 1 reported 4 themes and rater 2 reported 3 themes. Also, the Cronbach Alpha coefficient for the pictures was in line with the benchmark of the International Test Commission (2017). For example, the coefficients for picture 1, α =.743, picture 2, α =.758, picture 3, α =.748, etc. On the quantification of responses, the interview responses were scored quantitatively with a seven-point response pattern, where 0, 1, 2 represent negative (NE) responses, 3 stands for neutral or ambivalence/indifference (N) responses, and 4, 5, and 6 represent positive (P) responses. Based on quantification, norm values were established, where the summation of responses in each picture from 0 to 10 indicates school stress, 11 to 15 indicates borderline, and 16 to 30 indicates school wellbeing. For convergent validity, the three sub-scales of the PMSSW were correlated. The correlation was significantly and positively related (r =.596,.477, and.442) at P<.001. The divergent validity yielded highs when PMSW was correlated with age and socio-emotional skills (r =.159, .177, and 111 P<.001). Based on the findings, the scale is a true measure of the school stress and wellbeing experiences of kindergarten pupils. It is recommended that pupils’ school stress and wellbeing be assessed monthly in every school.
Keywords: Stress, wellbeing, Pictorial, school experiences, Scale

Author information

Author	Role
Paschal Chukwuma Ugwu, Department of Psychology, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka Anambra State Nigeria	Presenting author

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