Development and validation of children’s stories as a health education strategy in speech, language, and hearing sciences

PURPOSE: Developing and validating children’s stories focused on health education in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. METHODS: Cross-sectional, descriptive, quali-quantitative two-step study. 1st) elaboration of 10 children’s stories, guiding questions, explanatory notes, and illustrations. 2nd) validation by judges (speech therapists, educators, and familiar) in two phases. In the first, the sample consisted of 42 judges and in the second, 28. To access the materials and the validation questionnaire, a website was made available. The questionnaire investigated the judges’ personal data and the judges’ perceptions regarding the contents, vocabulary, illustrations, structure, and motivation of the materials. A five-point Likert scale of the agreement was used, with spaces for suggestions in each question. The quantitative analysis was done using the Content Validity Index and the Content Validity Coefficient. The qualitative analysis was based on the comments of the judges. The minimum rate of agreement among the judges on the decision to change or not change the materials was 80%. RESULTS: The first phase pointed out the need for modifications in three titles and two vocabularies (bullying and dyke), and the need for increasing to five years of age the minimum age for access to the materials. The second phase revealed good acceptability in all changes made. CONCLUSION: The materials developed were validated and can be used as health education tools by speech therapists and educators, as well as parents.