Preliminary Reliability and Validity of the Toileting Habit Profile Questionnaire-Second Revision

Occupational therapists are skilled in facilitating participation in activities of daily living and in evaluating and treating sensory integration problems that interfere with engagement in everyday activities. The Toileting Habit Profile Questionnaire (THPQ) was developed to assess sensory issues impacting toileting participation in children. The aim of this study was to examine the preliminary reliability (internal consistency) and validity (known-groups discrimination) of the THPQ-R2, an expanded version of the THPQ. We adopted a descriptive survey methodology in which parents of three- to six-year-old children with and without functional defecation disorders (FDD) completed the THPQ-R2. The hyper-reactivity subscale demonstrated acceptable internal consistency, with a Cronbach’s alpha of .755. The internal consistency analysis of the hypo-reactivity/poor perception subscale yielded Cronbach’s alpha of 0.616. Children without FDD had significantly higher scores (less problems) on the hyper-reactivity subscale (M = 29.22, SD = 1.22) compared to children with FDD (M = 26.36, SD = 1.70). The scores on the hypo-reactivity/poor perception subscale of children without FDD (M = 19.08, SD = 1.30) were significantly higher (less problems) than those of children with FDD (M = 17.72, SD = 1.70). Our findings provide preliminary support for both the internal consistency and construct validity of the THPQ-R2.