Development and Validation of an Instrument to Assess Cultural Responsiveness in Chinese Behavioral Support Practices

Cultural responsiveness (CR) is a core principle of behavioral interventions and supports (BIS), yet challenges exist in operationalizing and assessing this important construct. First, there is a lack of rigorously developed, reliable, and valid measures of CR. Second, although CR is relevant to every society, little is known about how it manifests in non-Western cultural contexts. In this study, we present the development and validation of Cultural Responsiveness in Chinese Psychological Behavior Practices (CR-CPBP), an instrument designed to assess cultural competence as a foundational step toward CR in BIS in China. The development process follows the PROMIS® Instrument Development and Validation Scientific Standards and involves five phases: item development, content validation with Chinese BIS experts, content validation with Chinese parents of children who received BIS services, cognitive interviews with Chinese BIS practitioners, and psychometric evaluation. The process results in a reliable and valid 37-item self-report survey. The study has implications for research and practice, including how to use rigorous, mixed methods and involve key stakeholders to develop survey instruments and how to operationalize and assess CR within a specific cultural and social context.