Psychometric properties of an adapted version of the parental sense of competence (PSOC) scale for Portuguese at‐risk parents

Parental sense of competence is one of the central dimensions targeted on psychosocial interventions aimed at supporting at‐risk families. Researchers and practitioners need reliable instruments to assess the parental role adapted for these families. Although the parental sense of competence (PSOC) scale has been frequently used to assess this construct, there is still no adapted version for Portuguese parents. In this study, the reliability, validity and factor structure of the PSOC scale is examined with a clinical sample of 146 mothers from at‐risk families receiving psychosocial interventions for family preservation from Child Protective Services. Results show that the Portuguese version of the PSOC measures three distinct constructs with acceptable psychometric properties: efficacy, dissatisfaction and controllability. As expected, the obtained factors were significantly and positively related to parenting alliance and family cohesion, and negatively associated with parenting stress. In sum, the proposed Portuguese version shows reliability and validity evidences to measure three relevant dimensions of parental self‐evaluation, and it constitutes a cost‐ and time‐effective instrument suited for at‐risk mothers.     

Measuring Child Care

Three comprehensive child welfare assessment measures, which utilize the method of behavioral observation, were examined for reliability, construct validity and sensitivity to change in functioning over time. These measures are the Family Assessment Checklist, the Childhood Level of Living Scale, and the Maternal Characteristics Scale. The correlations between the measures tended to be fairly high, especially for the major scale dimensions (r = -.56 to -.84). Two of the measures recorded significant pretest/posttest change. These assessment tools appear to be practical, economical and potentially useful for identifying families at risk and for treatment outcome evaluation.     

From policy to practice: the implementation of a new framework for social work assessments of children and families

This paper describes a two‐year study conducted in 24 English councils to evaluate the implementation of the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families. The Framework promotes a holistic, multi‐agency approach towards the assessment of children in need. The study was carried out in two phases. Phase one explored how councils implemented the Framework and accompanying assessment records. Phase two used a variety of methods to assess the impact of the Framework on practice, including an audit of completed assessment records, postal questionnaires to practitioners and managers in social services and partner agencies, and a qualitative study of 52 cases which included interviews with parents, children over 10 and social workers. A time record was used to gather information on the time social workers spent on the various elements of the core assessment process. The study suggests that councils had to overcome a number of organizational and other barriers in order to implement the Framework. However, the Framework and supporting materials appear to have provided the foundations to improve the quality of social work recording and promote interagency working, and have strengthened the involvement of children and families in the assessment process.     

Maternal Emotional Styles and Child Social Adjustment: Assessment, Correlates, Outcomes and Goodness of Fit in Early Childhood

The goals of the present research were to develop a modified version of an existing self‐assessment questionnaire designed to measure parents’ emotional style and to examine how the aspects of child regulation may moderate the relation between the emotional styles and social outcomes in childhood. Participants in Study 1 were 140 mothers and children (73 males, 67 females, M_age=56.0 months). The mothers completed the Maternal Emotional Styles Questionnaire (MESQ) to assess maternal emotional styles, and the Child Behavior Vignettes to assess parental goals across two scenarios. Participants in Study 2 were 50 mothers who were interviewed regarding their emotional styles using the Meta‐emotion Interview, and who also completed the MESQ. In Study 3, 100 mothers and children (41 males, 59 females, M=58.0 months) participated. The mothers completed the MESQ and the Child Behavior Questionnaire to assess the children's emotion and behavior regulation. Teachers completed the Child Behavior Scale to measure the indices of preschool adjustment. Results from Studies 1 and 2 indicated a two‐factor scale for the MESQ, with good psychometric properties (including stability, convergent validity, and construct validity). Results from Study 3 indicated different patterns of associations between maternal emotional styles, and child adjustment for well‐regulated versus dysregulated children.     

Creative connections: parenting capacity, reading with children and practitioner assessment and intervention

This paper presents some findings from a study of the views of 33 parents from a diversity of backgrounds with children between 0 and 12. Twenty‐two parents were using family support services. They were asked about their views on ‘parenting capacity’ based on the dimensions of The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and Their Families (Department of Health et al.) which are now incorporated into the Common Assessment Framework used in Every Child Matters (Department for Education and Skills). They were also asked about reading with their children and how this enhanced their parenting capacities. Their responses were analysed using the parenting capacity dimensions of The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and Their Families. It became apparent that this common activity (parent/child reading) contributed much to children's development and to the quality of the child/parent relationship. It also enhanced parenting capacity as described in the parenting capacity dimensions. This paper presents that part of the findings which illustrates the creative connections that exist between the activity of parents and children reading together and the parenting capacity dimensions social workers use in assessment and intervention. These findings are relevant to practitioners working within current policy and practice agendas in children's services, which promote multidisciplinary working and non‐stigmatizing assessments and interventions.     

Child Well‐Being Scales (CWBS) in the assessment of families and children in home‐care intervention: an empirical study

This paper reports research carried out in Italy designed to investigate the usability of Child Well‐Being Scale (CWBS) for the outcome evaluation of home‐care interventions for vulnerable families and children in need. Using a pre‐ and post‐test design, the study traces the changes in 18 vulnerable families and 23 children in need included in a programme of home‐care intervention over a period of 11 months. All the families and children were assessed twice: at intake and at the end of the intervention (after 6 months). Furthermore, 10 families and 11 children had a longer intervention and were assessed three times. Moreover, two focus groups involving 13 home‐care workers and 11 face‐to‐face interviews were used to collect practitioners' points of views on CWBS. The results generally support the idea that families' and children's situation improved over time, as shown by an improvement in almost all of the considered dimensions after 6 months and after 11 months. Specifically, the families improved more on household adequacy in the long term while children on the child performance dimension improved in the short term. Practitioners reported that CWBS was an aid to multi‐professional decision‐making, as the systematic evaluation of the subscales was a practical base upon which to activate shared decision‐making during the casework.     

Exploring and Assessing Nonsocial Play in the Preschool: The Development and Validation of the Preschool Play Behavior Scale

Recently, researchers have investigated the different structural forms of young children's nonsocial play behaviors. The primary goal of this research was to develop and validate the Preschool Play Behavior Scale (PPBS) , a teacher rating scale designed to assess the multiple forms of young children's solitary behaviors. In this regard, two studies were conducted. In Study 1, 39 preschool children were observed, and their social and nonsocial behaviors recorded over a three month period. Teachers then completed the PPB S. Results supported the construct validity of the PPBS ; teacher-rated and observed nonsocial and social behaviors were significantly associated in predicted ways. In Study 2, parental (e.g., demographic, child temperament) and teacher (e.g., PPBS , child behavior problems) ratings were collected for 337 preschoolers. Results established the psychometric properties of the PPBS (e.g., inter-rater reliability, factor structure, internal consistency, and convergent validity).     

Web-based assessment of social and emotional competence in the late elementary grades

This paper presents evidence of the score reliability, factor structure, criterion-related validity, and measurement equivalence of a web-based assessment of several important social and emotional competencies for children in fourth through sixth grades. The assessment, SELweb LE (Late Elementary), is designed to measure children's understanding of other's thoughts and feelings, their ability to solve social problems, and their ability to engage in self-control. SELweb LE satisfies a need for a direct assessment that measures theoretically relevant social and emotional competencies specifically for youth in the late elementary grades. The competencies measured are associated with youth outcomes, are reflected in state education standards, and are the targets of instruction in widely used social and emotional learning (SEL) curricula. Analyses support SELweb LE's factor structure, score reliability, measurement equivalence, and convergent, discriminant, and criterion-related validity. More broadly, evidence supports the use of SELweb LE to characterize student competencies.     

Assessing Parent-Child Relationship Disorders in Clinical Practice

This paper presents two short-form scales that measure the degree or magnitude of problems children have in their relationships with their parents. The scales were designed for use in research and in clinical settings to monitor and evaluate the client's response to treatment through repeated administrations. Both-scales have a reliability in excess of .90 as well as good discriminant and construct validity, and both have been used in clinical practice where they were found to be important adjuncts to the conduct and the evaluation of treatment.     

The Common Assessment Framework form 9 years on: a creative process

Legislation within England states that local authorities should provide services for all those families in need. However, research has identified that regardless of the introduction of strategies to identify need and enhance family support, ongoing barriers to services adhere. Taking a social constructionist approach, this study explored professionals' experiences of the use of the Common Assessment Framework form. Data were collected in four different local authorities in two phases. Forty‐one professionals from a variety of agencies took part in semi‐structured interviews. Data were analyzed thematically. Findings demonstrate that the professionals experienced difficulties in working through the Common Assessment Framework process, for example, in completing the form and engaging families. This situation led to the more experienced and knowledgeable professionals utilising creative ways to successfully navigate the ‘referral process’. Such creative working practices included the terminology used to complete the form and how the process was ‘sold’ to parents, so that they could be in a better position to engage parents and complete the Common Assessment Framework form. Because of this, more experienced professionals seem to be able to accelerate the referral process in order to access much needed support services for children and young people.     

Badiou and the philosophy of social work: a reply to Stephen Webb

Imre R. Badiou and the philosophy of social work: a reply to Stephen Webb Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 253–258 © 2010 The Author, Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. Stephen Webb's recent article ‘Against diversity and difference in social work’ claims that the work of Alain Badiou has the potential to be of great use in social work practice. Webb is faced with the problem of a discourse that has eroded any practical meaning attached to notions of diversity and difference, he laments the ‘ethical turn’ in social work practice and blames post‐modernism. Webb views the work of Badiou as a way to reinvigorate social work practice. I claim that Badiou's Being and Event is exclusive to ontology. Connections between Being and Event and possible ‘uses’ of Badiou's subtractive ontology, as an instrumentalisation, are not worthwhile. Critiquing Badiou's non‐ontological philosophies and political polemics is a better way to assess the practicality of his thought outside of his ontology. Webb's conflation of post‐modernism, neoliberalism and the difference, diversity and ethics discourse is also problematic and is critiqued here.     

Identifying and implementing pathways for organizational change – using the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families as a case example

Change within social work organizations is incessant. This has implications for senior managers and elected members who have to manage these changes. The Department of Health has introduced new guidance entitled the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families ( Department of Health 1999a ). The guidance is based on a number of principles that require an attitudinal shift in terms of assessing ways of safeguarding children and promoting their welfare. This paper describes strategic approaches to the effective introduction of the framework within social services departments and other child welfare organizations. Two models have been adapted from practice: the actual framework for assessing children and their families and the Protchaska and DiClementi model of change. These models complement each other. The adapted Assessment Framework provides a structure to assess the readiness of the organization for the implementation of the new framework. The model of change provides a schema for planning, implementing and reviewing the introduction and operation of the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families. Although the focus of the paper is the introduction of the new guidance , the models can be utilized by senior managers in any social care organization who are facilitating major changes in the organization.     

Early Parental Positive Behavior Support and Childhood Adjustment: Addressing Enduring Questions with New Methods

A large literature provides strong empirical support for the influence of parenting on child outcomes. The current study addresses enduring research questions testing the importance of early parenting behavior to children's adjustment. Specifically, we developed and tested a novel multi‐method observational measure of parental positive behavior support at age 2. Next, we tested whether early parental positive behavior support was related to child adjustment at school age, within a multi‐agent and multi‐method measurement approach and design. Observational and parent‐reported data from mother–child dyads (N = 731; 49 percent female) were collected from a high‐risk sample at age 2. Follow‐up data were collected via teacher report and child assessment at age 7.5. The results supported combining three different observational methods to assess positive behavior support at age 2 within a latent factor. Further, parents' observed positive behavior support at age 2 predicted multiple types of teacher‐reported and child‐assessed problem behavior and competencies at 7.5 years old. Results supported the validity and predictive capability of a multi‐method observational measure of parenting and the importance of a continued focus on the early years within preventive interventions.     

The Parent Concerns Questionnaire and Parenting Stress Index: comparison of two Common Assessment Framework‐compatible assessment instruments

There is a long‐standing interest in finding ways to develop systematic and consistent means for conducting assessments. Behind this lies a concern with issues such as adequate responses to need, prevention, early intervention and evidence‐based practice. The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) has been developed for wide use for families with additional needs, for various contexts, including children's centres. This, however, has been subject to some criticism. Two instruments with considerable potential relevance to areas consistently important in child and family assessment, focusing on parents (and hence likely to be of generic use with CAF), are the Parent Concerns Questionnaire (PCQ), developed specifically in relation to children's social care populations, and Parenting Stress Index (PSI). The way forward is to investigate empirically what they offer to practice. This paper examines their potential for practice in children's centres through a comparative methodology, an approach particularly suitable to identifying the distinctive qualities and contribution of each. The findings demonstrate both have considerable potential relevance for practice, outlines what each offers, with the detailed individual assessments and its ecological framework characteristic of the PCQ providing benefits additional to the PSI.     

Changing paradigms in measuring national well‐being: How does Korea rank “beyond GDP”?

Academics, politicians, and citizens around the world are calling for multidimensional measures of national well‐being to be included in public policy‐making. Under the motto “The Future of Well‐Being,” the 6th OECD World Forum recently pushed forward this debate in Incheon, Korea. Comparing multidimensional well‐being measures across countries, Korea ranks well in income and health, but shows deficiencies in social support, perceived freedom over life choices, air quality, and work‐life balance. Multidimensional measures of well‐being are increasingly being adopted by policy‐makers around the world to improve people's lives.     

The Group Topic Evaluation Scale: Preliminary Validity,Reliability, and Use in Psychoeducational Groups

Process measures are important for evaluation of client reaction to psychoeducational group topics. Few scales have been created for measuring client responses in this setting. This study utilized secondary data to determine the initial validity of a Group Topic Evaluation Scale. Group members (N = 190) in a large, urban Driving Under the Influence program evaluated six different group topics using a created scale for a total of 623 responses. Principal component analysis found one factor comprising six items with good reliability. Two of the six topics scored significantly higher, indicating more meaningfulness to the clients. Implications are discussed.     

Mothers' Self-Reported Control of Their Preschool Children's Emotional Expressiveness: A Longitudinal Study of Associations with Infant–Mother Attachment and Children's Emotion Regulation

In the present longitudinal study we examined the associations between mothers’ self‐reported control of their preschoolers’ emotional expressiveness and two other key facets of early socioemotional development: the quality of the infant–mother attachment and children's emotion regulation. Seventy‐six white preschool‐aged children (46 boys and 30 girls) and their mothers participated. Principal assessments included the Parent Attitude Toward Child Expressiveness Scale (PACES; Saarni, 1985 ), the infant Strange Situation, and ‘Beat the Bell,’ a measure designed for this study to elicit children's emotional expression, sharing, and suppression in the presence of their mothers. Mothers’ control of their children's expressiveness was associated with both attachment and children's emotion regulation in theoretically predicted ways. First, mothers of children who had been classified insecure‐avoidant in the Strange Situation reported greater control of their children's negative expressiveness than other mothers, and mothers of children who had been classified insecure‐ambivalent reported less control of their children's negative expressiveness than other mothers. Second, mothers who reported greater control of their children's expressiveness had children who were less likely to express and share their feelings and more likely to suppress their anger in the ‘Beat the Bell’ emotion regulation assessment. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of maternal emotion socialization in children's early socioemotional development.     

Evaluating a Scale to Measure Student Competencies in Macro Social Work Practice

ABSTRACT

This article outlines the development of an evaluation tool for measuring student competency in macrolevel social work practice. Researchers followed a multistage process that incorporated the wisdom of experienced field instructors in identifying key competencies for practice, ranking performance levels in each competency, and evaluating the reliability and validity of the scale. The resulting Macro Practice-Based Evaluation tool includes six skill domains (learning and growth; behavior and relationships; leadership; critical thinking, analysis, planning, and implementation; professional communication; and values and ethics), each of which has five levels of student competence ranging from unsuitable for practice to exemplary. Evaluation in an experimental setting, by comparing student evaluations on the new tool and previous tools, demonstrated promising reliability and validity. Implications for social work education and future research in actual practice environments are discussed.     

CAF in the country: implementing the Common Assessment Framework in a rural area

This paper discusses aspects of the implementation of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) in the UK, introduced under the Change for Children Programme and designed to facilitate early intervention and improve multi-agency working. The study area was rural in character and findings are compared with evaluation of early CAF implementation which focused primarily on urban areas. The study provided lessons for practice, many of which resonate particularly with rural problems identified in the international literature. There may be advantages in rural areas in ease of involvement of families in processes, in early awareness of practitioners of difficulties in families and in depth of relationships with families. These in turn may support early intervention. Disadvantages centre around resource issues, those of skills and confidence and lack of contact with and therefore distrust of other agencies.     

The Development and Evaluation of the Perceptions of Competence and Responsiveness Scale

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to assess the validity and reliability of a new scale designed to capture perceptions of public agency competence and responsiveness. The initial version, consisting of 20 items, was administered to 134 graduate students. Following exploratory factor analysis, the final model consisted of 8 items and 2 factors: one representing competence and the other representing responsiveness. This model explained 50% of the variance. The measure demonstrated both convergent validity (r = ?.219) and internal consistency (α = .81). This measure has the potential for applications in research projects involving perceptions relevant to support for various human service configurations.