Translation, Cross-Cultural Adaptation, and Validation of a Dutch Version of the Actions and Feelings Questionnaire in Autistic and Neurotypical Adults.
Hedwig A van der Meer, Irina Sheftel-Simanova, Cornelis C Kan and 1 others
PMID 34008098WHAT IT FOUND
The Dutch Actions and Feelings Questionnaire is valid for total scores but not subscales.
The total score correlates with autism traits in neurotypical adults but not autistic adults. Clinicians can use the total score, but should avoid interpreting the imagery and animation subscales due to poor reliability.
Key findings
01The total scale showed good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.81), but the imagery subscale was very poor (0.27) and the animation subscale was below the recommended cut-off (0.67).
02The questionnaire total score negatively correlated with autism quotient scores in the whole group, but this relationship was only significant in the neurotypical group and not the autistic group.
03There was no correlation between the questionnaire score and estimated IQ, indicating the measure does not depend on general intelligence.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample size was small (n=50), which may have affected the reliability estimates for subscales. The study was part of a larger project involving brain imaging, limiting the number of participants. The lack of correlation between AFQ and AQ in the autistic group raises questions about the tool's convergent validity specifically for that population, despite the authors' confidence based on mean score comparisons. The 'Imagery' subscale had extremely poor internal consistency (alpha = 0.27), making it unusable for clinical or research purposes.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The study was approved by the local ethics committee (CMO Arnhem-Nijmegen).
The easy way to misread this
Do not use the subscale scores for clinical decision-making. The 'Imagery' subscale has very poor internal consistency (0.27), and the 'Animation' subscale falls below the recommended threshold (0.67). Only the total score is psychometrically sound.