Abstract

VECTORE, Celia; ALVARENGA, Vanessa Cristina  and  JUNIOR, Sinésio Gomide. Construction and validation of a mediational behavior scale of children educators. Psicol. esc. educ. [online]. 2006, vol.10, n.1, pp. 53-68. ISSN 1413-8557.

The objective of this paper was the construction and validation of a mediational behavior scale as observed in the interaction of educators of children in childcare facility (crèche). A content analysis of the first 58 items comprising the scale was carried out by five judges so as to verify concordance (agreement) rate. 21 items were eliminated, thus the scale was comprised of the remaining 37 items. A pilot study of the scale via mediational behavior observation of 315 children educators of cities in Minas Gerais and São Paulo was carried out. The factor analysis of the items identified four factors: interaction of the educators in recreational activities; modes of sharing content with children; children’s rewards; educators´ postures re; competitive games. These factors are connected to the educator’s interaction in recreational activities which explain 36% of the scale variable. 16 items whose factorial weight was below 0,30 were disconsidered, thus remaining 23 items.

Keywords : Psychological assessment; Psychometrics; Cognitive mediation.