Evidências de validade da escala de clima escolar Delaware School Climate Survey-Student (DSCS-S) no Brasil

• Autor(a) principal: Holst, Bruna
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da PUC_RS
• Texto Completo: http://tede2.pucrs.br/tede2/handle/tede/897
• topic: PSICOLOGIA; PSICOMETRIA (PSICOLOGIA); TESTES PSICOLÓGICOS; PSICOLOGIA EDUCACIONAL; COMPORTAMENTO (PSICOLOGIA); CNPQ::CIENCIAS HUMANAS::PSICOLOGIA

Introduction: School climate refers to the quality of school life and it is based on patterns of people's experiences in school, and involves norms, goals, values, interpersonal relationships, teaching and learning practices and institutional structures. Poor school climate has been associated with learning disabilities, school drop out, substance abuse, non-compliance of school rules, depression, low self-esteem and bullying in previous studies. However, there are no validated instruments to assess school climate in Brazil. The Delaware School Climate Survey-Student (DSCS-S) is an instrument composed by 78 items, divided into: Scale I - School Climate; Scale II - School Techniques; Scale III - Bullying and Cyberbullying Victimization; and Scale IV - Cognitive, Behavioral and Emotional Student Engagement. Objective: This study aims to investigate evidences of validity of this survey in Brazil, as well as investigate associations of school climate dimensions with characteristics of schools and students in Southern Brazil. Method: This dissertation comprised three manuscripts. The first describes the cross-cultural adaptation and the search for evidence of content validity of the DSCS-S. The second describes the investigation of the psychometric properties of the DSCS-S, more specifically the evidence of construct validity through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The third discusses how the DSCS-S dimensions correlated with each other and how they associated with characteristics of Brazilian students. The sample consisted in 436 students, aged from 9 to 18 years old (M = 12.98, SD = 1.80; 51.8% girls), from 2 private schools (50.5% of the students assessed) and four public schools located in the cities of Porto Alegre, Gramado and Viamão (Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil). The DSCS-S and a demographic data questionnaire developed for this study were applied. Procedures for a cross-cultural adaptation were adopted and also evidences of validity of the instrument were investigated along with correlations between the DSCS-S dimensions and student characteristics such as age, gender, number, occurrence of repetition and type of education (private or public). Results: The cross-cultural adaptation resulted in a Portuguese version that is consistent and showed evidence of content validity and proper congruence between the expert committee. Confirmatory factor analysis showed more acceptable fit indices than the exploratory factor analysis. Results indicate (1) the importance of follow a rigorous crosscultural adaptation method to ensure instruments content validity; (2) that the Portuguese version of the DSCS-S showed evidences of content and construct validity; and (3) that school strategies to promote a positive climate should focus on student engagement and the development of social-emotional learning school techniques. Conclusion: The DSCS-S can attend Brazilian schools demand for climate assessments and support the development of more assertive education policies and strategies that will foster a positive school climate.