Content area
Full text
The Draw A Person: Screening Procedure for Emotional Disturbance (DAP:SPED; Naglieri, 1991) was developed to provide a quick screening measure for the identification of children and adolescents who may have emotional disorders. The present study examined the test-retest reliability and validity of the DAP:SPED with three groups of adolescents: mainstream students, alternate education students, and students manifesting behavior problems. Significant score differences were found only between the regular and the alternate and behavior class students on the DAP:SPED scores. In contrast, significant score differences between all three groups were found on the Devereux Behavior Rating Scale and the Child Behavior Checklist. Test-retest reliability over 23-27 weeks was relatively low. Results of the present study suggest that the DAP:SPED may have limited utility in the identification of adolescents with behavior disorders.
Behavioral assessment can encompass data derived from a number of sources including behavioral observations, interviews, rating scales, self-report measures, and projective techniques. While objective measures with their demonstrated psychometric qualities are the most preferred means of assessing behavior, including both personality and intelligence, the use of projective tests is still relatively commonplace. The assumption that appears to underlie the use of projective measures is that they may potentially provide a critical dimension to the assessment process by allowing a glimpse of thoughts and perceptions which are not readily observable or measurable by other methods. This 'characteristic' also constitutes their greatest weakness as it is difficult to determine the authenticity of an individual's response.
Of the many projective techniques that have been, or are currently used, human figure drawings continue to be one of the more popular assessment tools. However, the clinical usefulness of human figure drawings has come under severe criticism. Following the publications by Motta, Little, and Tobin (1993a, 1993b) stating that there is very little validity evidence to support the use of human figure drawings in the assessment of intelligence, personality, behaviour or emotion, other well-respected psychologists have reiterated their conclusions (Graham, 1993; Kamphaus & Pleiss, 1993; Knoff, 1993). Smith and Dumont (1995) further described concerns about the use of the Draw A Person test which include lack of formal training, lack of validity evidence, and ignoring interpretive evidence presented in both the test manual and published research literature.
In contrast, others...