MULTICULTURAL SCALE DEVELOPMENT IN SOCIAL WORK by ADRIAN DUPLESSIS VANBREDA DOCTORAL DISSERTATION Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of D LITT ET PHIL in SOCIAL WORK in the FACULTY OF ARTS at the RAND AFRIKAANS UNIVERSITY SUPERVISOR: DR W. ROESTENBURG JULY 2004 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my appreciation to the following people without whom I could not have completed this dissertation: Dr Annatjie Faul, previously a lecturer at RAU and my original doctoral supervisor, who inspired my to undertake this study and who guided me in the formulation of the multicultural scale development process described in chapters 2 & 3. Dr Wim Roestenburg, who took over as my doctoral supervisor and who has served to champion ecometrics in South Africa. Brigadier General Ntsiki Motumi, Director Social Work in the South African National Defence Force, whose commitment to the Military Social Health Index opened the many doors necessary to collect sufficient data for this study and ensures the use of the Index by social workers throughout the country. Mrs Lynette Kleynhans, social work researcher at the Military Health Research Centre, who partnered me through the empirical phase of this study and without whose support I would have been overwhelmed with the administration of the study. Major Seravani Govender, Captain Maria Buthelezi, Major Patricia Mokgagane, Major Rut Domingo, Mrs Lynette Kleynhans and Captain Lillian Magagula, social workers in the South African Military Health Service, who pioneered the implementation of multicultural scale development in the SANDF, through serving as the research team for the analysis, design and development phases of the study. All the social workers in the SANDF who collected Military Social Health Index data during 2003. The 4171 members of the SANDF who were willing to complete the lengthy (200 item!) validation version of the Military Social Health Index in 2003. Trina, my wife, and Erin, my son, who endured the six years and many hours of my labour on this dissertation. MULTICULTURAL SCALE DEVELOPMENT IN SOCIAL WORK PAGE i MULTICULTURAL SCALE DEVELOPMENT IN SOCIAL WORK PAGE ii ABSTRACT This study serves to expand the work of A.C. Faul on scale development in social work to incorporate the demand for multiculturalism. Ecometrics – the measurement of ecosystems – is a steadily growing field in South Africa. To date, however, scale development has assumed that the ecometrics will be practiced in a monocultural context. This is obviously not the case in South Africa. Consequently, the research goal is to design a process model for the development of social work scales for multicultural use in South Africa. As a secondary objective, the study aims to test this model in practice, through the development of a multicultural scale that accurately measures the social health of military employees/families. A number of issues underlying the technical aspects of multicultural scale development are first explored, including issues of the characteristics of ecometrics; the meaning of the term culture; the emic-etic debate; cultural equivalence; and bias, fairness and standards in ecometrics. Thereafter, a process model for the development of multicultural ecometric scales is introduced and five main phases are described: analysis, design, development, evaluation, and diffusion & adoption. Each of these phases is further decomposed into main moments and steps, each of which is described at both theoretical and technical levels. In order to test this process model in the real world, a new multicultural, multilingual, multidimensional, systems-oriented, salutogenic scale was created, called the Military Social Health Index. In the analysis phase, the need for the scale was analysed and the innovation requirements determined and contracted with the client. A theoretical framework – family resilience theory – was identified and explored, resulting in the development of an assessment model that underlies the scale. The cross-cultural comparability of the constructs was assessed and each construct was operationally defined, using facet maps. In the design phase, a multicultural, multilingual team of social workers generated close to 200 items, as well as instructions, using a multifocus approach, in which items were generated in four languages simultaneously (English, Zulu, Setswana and Afrikaans). Only items that could be expressed equivalently across languages were accepted. This resulted in an initial instrument, comprising 175 items (plus 16 demographic items), covering seven constructs, in four languages, at an average reading level of Grades 6-7. During the development (or field testing) phase, the instrument was reviewed by a group of social workers for content relevance, translation equivalence, item formulation, etc. Thereafter it was reviewed by focus groups of soldiers in the SANDF. Finally, the instrument was subjected to an analysis of linguistic equivalence. In response to each review, changes were made to the instrument. In the evaluation phase, the Military Social Health Index was completed by 4171 uniformed soldiers, of whom 951 were casework clients of military social workers. Convenience sampling was MULTICULTURAL SCALE DEVELOPMENT IN SOCIAL WORK PAGE iii used, but because the data were collected by approximately 100 social workers across the country, the participants represent a highly diverse group of soldiers. Data were subjected a series of analyses at concept-level, item-level and scale-level, culminating in the establishment of clinical cutting scores. The validation of four of the seven scales is reported. Overall the results of this phase show that the Military Social Health Index is reliable and valid both within and across the four target cultures (African Xhosa, African Setswana, Coloured Afrikaans and White Afrikaans). Only the known groups validity, and consequently the clinical cutting scores, performed poorly. The study is concluded with a review and evaluation of the newly developed process model for multicultural scale development in social work. A number of adjustments to the model are proposed. The candidate concludes by arguing that the integration of multiculturalism into ecometrics is essential for the sustainability of ecometrics in this country. The candidate can be reached by email at [email protected] MULTICULTURAL SCALE DEVELOPMENT IN SOCIAL WORK PAGE iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements........................................................................................................... i Abstract .......................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. v List of Figures ............................................................................................................... xix List of Tables............................................................................................................... xxiii CHAPTER ONE: BROAD OVERVIEW OF SUBJECT MATTER.........................1 1.1 Introduction to Chapter One................................................................................... 1 1.2 Multicultural Scale Development ............................................................................ 1 1.2.1 The Push for Accountability ................................................................................. 1 1.2.2 The Push for Cultural Competence........................................................................ 3 1.2.3 The Changing Demographics of our Client Systems................................................. 6 1.2.4 Conclusion........................................................................................................ 7 1.3 Military Deployments & Social Health ..................................................................... 8 1.3.1 Changes in the Military Community ...................................................................... 8 1.3.2 Enhancing the Deployment Resilience of Military Families ...................................... 11 1.3.3 Concurrent Health Assessments ......................................................................... 13 1.4 Statement of Research Goals ................................................................................ 14 1.4.1 Research Problem ............................................................................................ 14 MULTICULTURAL SCALE DEVELOPMENT IN SOCIAL WORK PAGE v 1.4.2 Research Question ........................................................................................... 14 1.4.3 Research Goal ................................................................................................. 14 1.4.4 Research Objectives......................................................................................... 15 1.5 Broad Methodology............................................................................................... 15 1.6 Definitions of Key Terms....................................................................................... 19 1.7 Limitations of the Study........................................................................................ 21 1.8 Chapter Outline .................................................................................................... 22 CHAPTER TWO: ANALYSIS OF MULTICULTURAL SCALE DEVELOPMENT 23 2.1 Introduction to Chapter Two................................................................................