Development process of a context-specific instrument to measure children's sense of protection (PROTECT)

Violence against children (VAC) is a global problem, and the development of empirical methods to better understand its nature is a step towards tackling this challenge. Tools exist to collect data on VAC. Yet, to the best of our knowledge, no standardized process exists to develop a context-specific instrument that measures children's sense of protection. The primary aim of this paper is to present the steps followed to develop such an instrument in Colombia, following an approach used to develop a cross-cultural function assessment (Bolton and Tang, 2002). The process included free listing, pile sorting, and transforming of prioritized themes into instrument items. The 11-item instrument was developed with children in Bogotá (n = 15). The preliminary test of psychometric properties (test-retest reliability and internal consistency) of the instrument were subsequently assessed with children in Bogotá (n = 42). The psychometric properties show good reliability: ω = 0.84 at T1, ω = 0.81 at T2, and test-retest reliability: ICC = 0.83. Future studies should replicate the instrument development process in varying contexts; and assess the reliability in studies with larger sample sizes.