The Italian Translation of the Supports Intensity Scale-Children (SIS-C Italian): Measurement Invariance and Differences

Abstract The Supports Intensity Scale – Children's Version (SIS-C) was translated into Italian using a committee approach to translation. Latent modeling approaches enabled the leveraging of the large standardization sample from the U.S. (n = 4,015) to generate translation-specific norms from data collected in Italy (n = 435) for children and youth ranging ages 5-16 years placed in six evenly distributed age groups by country. Findings indicated the structure of the SIS-C (i.e., seven support need domains organized under an overall support needs construct), was supported in the Italian context. However, there were age-related differences in the U.S. and Italian samples. In the Italian sample, norms were established for the 5-8 years, 9-10 years, and 11-16 years age groups. Moreover, the Italian sample also differed from other European samples and SIS-C translations. The importance of understanding cultural contexts in interpreting findings from the SIS-C is discussed, along with ways in which SIS-C findings can be used to inform policy and practice in the Italian context.