Testing an online screening for autism in the COVID-19 pandemic: a psychometric study of the Q-CHAT-24 in Chilean toddlers

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to examine some psychometric characteristics of the Chilean-adapted version of the Quantitative Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (Q-CHAT-24) (24) in a group of unselected children (community sample). This version was administered remotely through an online version during the pandemic period to caregivers of children, aged 18–24 months, registered in four primary care polyclinics of the Health Service Araucanía Sur, Chile.MethodsAn intentional non-probabilistic sampling was used. Three hundred and thirteen toddlers were examined. Participants completed an online version of the Q-CHAT-24 which was disseminated through the REDCap platform. Evidence of reliability through internal consistency and evidence of predictive validity through ROC curve analysis were realized.ResultsThe mean age of the children evaluated was 21.16 months. The Shapiro-Wilk test revealed that Q-CHAT-24 scores was normally distributed. 71 cases (23.12%) scored 38 points or more on the Q-CHAT-24, qualifying as Autistic Risk. 48 cases (15.63%) were confirmed as autistic through the ADOS-2 Module T. All items were positively correlated with Q-CHAT-24 total score. All items were positively correlated with Q-CHAT-24 total score. Internal consistency was acceptable for the Q-CHAT-24 (Cronbach ́s α=0.78). The internal consistencies were analyzed for the Q-CHAT-24 Factors, and they were good for factor 1 “Communication and Social Interaction” (Cronbach ́s α=0.85) and acceptable for factor 2 “Restrictive and Repetitive Patterns” (Cronbach ́s α=0.74). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were performed. The AUC values were 0.93 with statistical significance (p