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Validation Study of Human Figure Drawing Test in a Colombian School Children Population

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

Alberto Vélez van Meerbeke ,
Carolina Sandoval-Garcia ,
Milciades Ibáñez ,
Claudia Talero-Gutiérrez ,
Dolly Fiallo  and
Karen Halliday
Alberto Vélez van Meerbeke*
Affiliation:
Universidad del Rosario (Colombia)
Carolina Sandoval-Garcia
Affiliation:
Universidad del Rosario (Colombia)
Milciades Ibáñez
Affiliation:
Universidad del Rosario (Colombia)
Claudia Talero-Gutiérrez
Affiliation:
Universidad del Rosario (Colombia)
Dolly Fiallo
Affiliation:
Universidad del Rosario (Colombia)
Karen Halliday
Affiliation:
Universidad del Rosario (Colombia)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Alberto Velez Van Meerbeke. Escuela de Medicina y Ciencias de la Salud. Universidad del Rosario. Carrera 24 N° 63C-69. Bogotá. (Colombia). Phone: +57-1-3474560/70 ext. 380. Fax: +57-1-3499410. E-mail: alberto.velez@urosario.edu.co
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Abstract

The aim of this article was to assess the validity of the emotional and developmental components of the Koppitz human figure drawing test. 2420 children's drawings available in a database resulting from a previous cross sectional study designed to determine the prevalence of neurological diseases in children between 0 and 12 years old in Bogota schools were evaluated. They were scored using the criteria proposed by Koppitz, and classified into 16 groups according to age, gender, and presence/absence of learning or attention problems. The overall results were then compared with the normative study to assess whether descriptive parameters of the two populations were significantly different. There were no significant differences associated with presence/absence of learning and attention disorders or school attended within the overall sample. An Interrater reliability test has been made to assure the homogeneity of scoring by the evaluator team. There were significant differences between this population and that of the original study. New scoring tables contextualized for our population based on the frequency of appearance in this sample are presented. We can conclude that various ethnic, social, and cultural factors can influence the way children draw the human figure. It is thus important to establish local reference values to adequately distinguish between normality and abnormality. The new scoring tables proposed here should be followed up with a clinical study to corroborate their validity.

El trabajo tiene como objetivo fue validar los componentes evolutivos y emocionales del test de Koppitz del dibujo de la figura humana. Se revisaron 2420 dibujos de niños de la base de datos de un estudio de corte transversal realizado previamente para evaluar la prevalencia de enfermedades neuropediátricas en niños de 0 a 12 años de colegios de Bogotá y fueron divididos en 16 grupos organizados de acuerdo a edad, género y de presentación o no de problemas del aprendizaje o de la atención y evaluados bajo los parámetros propuestos por Koppitz. No se encontraron diferencias entre los grupos por la presencia o no de trastornos, ni entre el tipo de establecimiento educativo. Se realizó una prueba de concordancia interevaluador para homogenizar la calificación. Se encontraron diferencias con la clasificación propuesta por Koppitz por lo que se construyeron nuevas tablas de calificación, teniendo en cuenta los porcentajes de presentación en el presente estudio. A manera de conclusiones se puede decir que diferentes factores socioculturales y étnicos influyen en ítems específicos del dibujo de la figura humana en el niño. Es de gran importancia tener valores referenciales locales para poder establecer diferencias reales entre lo normal y lo anormal. Se debe realizar un estudio para validar clínicamente las tablas propuestas.

Keywords

childrenvalidationconcordancehuman figure drawing testniñosvalidaciónconcordanciatest del dibujo de la figura humana
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , May 2011 , pp. 464 - 477
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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