Borrowing Norms for the Human Figure Drawing Test: How to validate this practice?

Abstract

Too often tests are used with clients for whom the validity of the test has not been established. As a case in point we studied the use of the Human Figure Drawing (HFD) test with children living in Curaçao, a small island in the Caribbean. In this community no time and money are available for developing tests and establishing their validity and norms. We suggest that borrowing such information can be a relatively good, inexpensive alternative, provided that clinicians make the best of choices. This paper formulates three requirements, which should be met by the group of clients a clinician is working with. As an example we explored to what extent the requirements are being satisfied by 96 Curaçaoan Grade 4 school children. With regard to these children we conclude that clinicians using the HFD test can best use US representative frequency tables for scoring.

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