. 2023 Jan;8(1):e009827.

doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2022-009827.

The creation of the Global Scales for Early Development (GSED) for children aged 0-3 years: combining subject matter expert judgements with big data

Gareth McCray¹, Dana McCoy², Patricia Kariger³, Magdalena Janus⁴, Maureen M Black^{5

6}, Susan M Chang⁷, Fahmida Tofail⁸, Iris Eekhout⁹, Marcus Waldman¹⁰, Stef van Buuren⁹, Rasheda Khanam¹¹, Sunil Sazawal¹², Ambreen Nizar¹³, Yvonne Schönbeck⁹, Arsène Zongo¹⁴, Alexandra Brentani¹⁵, Yunting Zhang^{16

17}, Tarun Dua¹⁸, Vanessa Cavallera¹⁸, Abbie Raikes¹⁰, Ann M Weber¹⁹, Kieran Bromley²⁰, Abdullah Baqui²¹, Arunangshu Dutta²², Imran Nisar²³, Symone B Detmar⁹, Romuald Anago¹⁴, Pacifico Mercadante¹⁵, Fan Jiang¹⁶, Raghbir Kaur¹⁸, Katelyn Hepworth²⁴, Marta Rubio-Codina²⁵, Samuel N Kembou¹⁴, Salahuddin Ahmed²², Gill A Lancaster²⁰, Melissa Gladstone²⁶

Affiliations

¹ School of Medicine, Keele University, Keele, UK g.mccray@keele.ac.uk.
² Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
³ Consultant, WHO, Geneve, Switzerland.
⁴ Offord Centre for Child Studies, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
⁵ Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
⁶ RTI International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA.
⁷ Caribbean Institute for Health Research, The University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica.
⁸ Nutrition and Clinical Services Division, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
⁹ Department of Child Health, TNO, Leiden, The Netherlands.
¹⁰ College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska, USA.
¹¹ Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
¹² Center for Public Health Kinetics, New Delhi, New Delhi, India.
¹³ Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical College, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.
¹⁴ Innovations for Poverty Action, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
¹⁵ Pediatrics, Universidade de Sao Paulo Faculdade de Medicina, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
¹⁶ Shanghai Children's Medical Center Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, Shanghai, China.
¹⁷ National Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Children's Medical Center affiliated to School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
¹⁸ Brain Health Unit, Mental Health and Substance Use Department, World Health Organization, Geneve, Switzerland.
¹⁹ School of Public Health, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, Nevada, USA.
²⁰ School of Medicine, Keele University, Keele, UK.
²¹ International Center for Maternal and Newborn Health, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
²² Projahnmo Research Foundation, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
²³ Paediatrics, Aga Khan University, Karrachi, Pakistan.
²⁴ University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Education and Human Sciences, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
²⁵ Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
²⁶ Women and Children's Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.

PMID: 36650017
PMCID: PMC9853147
DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2022-009827

The creation of the Global Scales for Early Development (GSED) for children aged 0-3 years: combining subject matter expert judgements with big data

Gareth McCray et al. BMJ Glob Health. 2023 Jan.

. 2023 Jan;8(1):e009827.

doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2022-009827.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Medicine, Keele University, Keele, UK g.mccray@keele.ac.uk.
² Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
³ Consultant, WHO, Geneve, Switzerland.
⁴ Offord Centre for Child Studies, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
⁵ Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
⁶ RTI International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA.
⁷ Caribbean Institute for Health Research, The University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica.
⁸ Nutrition and Clinical Services Division, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
⁹ Department of Child Health, TNO, Leiden, The Netherlands.
¹⁰ College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska, USA.
¹¹ Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
¹² Center for Public Health Kinetics, New Delhi, New Delhi, India.
¹³ Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical College, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.
¹⁴ Innovations for Poverty Action, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
¹⁵ Pediatrics, Universidade de Sao Paulo Faculdade de Medicina, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
¹⁶ Shanghai Children's Medical Center Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, Shanghai, China.
¹⁷ National Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Children's Medical Center affiliated to School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
¹⁸ Brain Health Unit, Mental Health and Substance Use Department, World Health Organization, Geneve, Switzerland.
¹⁹ School of Public Health, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, Nevada, USA.
²⁰ School of Medicine, Keele University, Keele, UK.
²¹ International Center for Maternal and Newborn Health, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
²² Projahnmo Research Foundation, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
²³ Paediatrics, Aga Khan University, Karrachi, Pakistan.
²⁴ University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Education and Human Sciences, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
²⁵ Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
²⁶ Women and Children's Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.

PMID: 36650017
PMCID: PMC9853147
DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2022-009827

Abstract

Introduction: With the ratification of the Sustainable Development Goals, there is an increased emphasis on early childhood development (ECD) and well-being. The WHO led Global Scales for Early Development (GSED) project aims to provide population and programmatic level measures of ECD for 0-3 years that are valid, reliable and have psychometrically stable performance across geographical, cultural and language contexts. This paper reports on the creation of two measures: (1) the GSED Short Form (GSED-SF)-a caregiver reported measure for population-evaluation-self-administered with no training required and (2) the GSED Long Form (GSED-LF)-a directly administered/observed measure for programmatic evaluation-administered by a trained professional.

Methods: We selected 807 psychometrically best-performing items using a Rasch measurement model from an ECD measurement databank which comprised 66 075 children assessed on 2211 items from 18 ECD measures in 32 countries. From 766 of these items, in-depth subject matter expert judgements were gathered to inform final item selection. Specifically collected were data on (1) conceptual matches between pairs of items originating from different measures, (2) developmental domain(s) measured by each item and (3) perceptions of feasibility of administration of each item in diverse contexts. Prototypes were finalised through a combination of psychometric performance evaluation and expert consensus to optimally identify items.

Results: We created the GSED-SF (139 items) and GSED-LF (157 items) for tablet-based and paper-based assessments, with an optimal set of items that fit the Rasch model, met subject matter expert criteria, avoided conceptual overlap, covered multiple domains of child development and were feasible to implement across diverse settings.

Conclusions: State-of-the-art quantitative and qualitative procedures were used to select of theoretically relevant and globally feasible items representing child development for children aged 0-3 years. GSED-SF and GSED-LF will be piloted and validated in children across diverse cultural, demographic, social and language contexts for global use.

Keywords: Child health; Other study design; Paediatrics.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

**Figure 1**
GSED Long- and Short-form creation flowcharts.

**Figure 2**
- Item Domaining attribution descriptive statistics and correlations.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

1. Daelmans B, Darmstadt GL, Lombardi J, et al. Early childhood development: the foundation of sustainable development. Lancet 2017;389:9–11. 10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31659-2 - DOI - PubMed
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The creation of the Global Scales for Early Development (GSED) for children aged 0-3 years: combining subject matter expert judgements with big data

Affiliations

The creation of the Global Scales for Early Development (GSED) for children aged 0-3 years: combining subject matter expert judgements with big data

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Miscellaneous