Psychometric properties of the Amharic version of the Infant-Toddler Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (IT-HOME)

Children’s future development is strongly shaped by their home environment. This includes their cognitive, social, and emotional growth. However, a culturally validated and reliable tool to measure the home environment in Ethiopia is still lacking. This study aims to validate the IT-HOME instrument for infants and toddlers from birth to 3 years. A total of 576 participants were recruited, of whom 458 completed the survey. The data randomly split into exploratory factor analysis (EFA; n = 229) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA; n = 229) samples. Items were scored using a five-point Likert scale, replacing the original binary response format. Content validity was established through expert review, rating, and item refinement procedures. EFA supported a six-factor structure, which was subsequently confirmed by CFA with acceptable model fit indices (22 items, with 3–5 items per factor). Reliability analyses demonstrated strong internal consistency across all factors and the full scale, with McDonald’s ω values ranging from 0.70 to 0.87. Overall, the findings provide evidence consistent with the cultural relevance and sound psychometric properties of the adapted instrument for use with infants and toddlers, regardless of sex, and indicate its usefulness for practitioners and researchers in identifying risky home environments and informing tailored interventions.