The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the parent-report Short Form Positive Family Support Strengths and Needs Assessment (PFS-SaNA). The PFS-SaNA is designed to reduce the time and burden of collaborative mental health screening. Parents of 245 students in the Northwest completed the screener at third, fourth,…

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the parent-report short form of the Positive Family Support Strengths and Needs Assessment (PFS-SaNA). The PFS-SaNA is designed to reduce the time and burden of collaborative mental health screening. Parents of 245 students in the U.S. Northwest completed the screener at…

Background: Family involvement in youth care and special education is referred to as family-centered practice (FCP). Research on FCP, for example in relation to the effectiveness of youth care and special education, is challenged by a lack of validated instruments that measure youth professionals' family-centered attitudes and actions that is…

Objective: Organizational climate has emerged as an important factor in understanding and addressing the complexities of providing services in child welfare. This research examines the psychometric properties of each of the dimensions of Parker and colleagues' Psychological Climate Survey in a sample of voluntary child welfare workers. Methods:…

Head Start is a national program that aims to promote school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social, and other services to enrolled children and families. The program places special emphasis on helping preschoolers develop the reading, language,…

Raising a child with disabilities impacts the ability of parents to participate in life situations. This paper describes the development of a new instrument, Life Participation for Parents, to measure outcomes of pediatric therapy on parental participation. Items were reviewed by six occupational therapists with experience in pediatrics and…

Discusses the development of the Family Assessment Form for use in in-home family support services at the Children's Bureau of Los Angeles, California. Focuses on details of the form, its reliability and validity, and refinements in its use. (BB)

Evidence is presented regarding the construct validity and internal consistency reliability of scores for an investigator-developed individualized family service plan (IFSP) rating scale. One hundred and twenty IFSPs were rated using a 12-item instrument, the IFSP Rating Scale (McWilliam & Jung, 2001). Using principal components factor…

This conference paper discusses the results of a study that investigated the validity of the Family-Centered Behavior Scale (FCBS) and its companion tool, the FCBS-Importance. On the FCBS, parents of children with special needs rate how often a professional with whom they work performs certain family-centered behaviors. On the FCBS-Importance,…

A national survey assessing the degree and kind of family intervention services received was completed by 503 mothers with handicapped children in early intervention programs. Factor analysis was performed and items used to construct the Family-Focused Intervention Scale with 5 reliable subscales. Comparisons among groups of mothers supported…

This paper reports on the psychometric properties of a multidimensional inventory battery used for evaluating the parenting behavior of 693 parents enrolled in family support programs. Parents, depression, knowledge of child development, attitudes toward child rearing, and available social support were studied. Inventory can be administered with…

The reliability and validity of the Working with Young Children and Their Families instrument were tested with 101 of 192 occupational therapists surveyed. The form proved to be a reliable way of measuring the outcome of workshops to improve therapists' competence in working with families of children with special needs. (SK)

This article describes standardized instruments designed to measure physical and emotional health outcomes among children for a statewide implementation of community- and school-based family resource centers. It includes descriptive and psychometric information, strengths and weaknesses of two measures of physical well-being, and four measures of…

A study found the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) Family-Centeredness Rating Scale was effective in evaluating 100 IFSPs from four different agencies. The highest rated items were identifying the family's role and writing in the active voice. More child-related goals were written compared to family-related goals. (Author/CR)

Regression analysis was employed to determine if there were any similarities between the tests administered to participants of the Mountain-Plains program, a residential, family-based education program developed to improve the economic potential and lifestyle of selected student families in a six-state area. The study compared the Wide Range…