The adequacy of a family’s resources has implications for child and family service processes and outcomes. The field needs tools to assess resources in a manner relevant to children’s services research. The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of the FRS among families caring for children who are receiving mental health services and to compare its measurement quality across samples that differ on economic variables. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported similar factor structures across samples, and internal consistency was equivalent. Findings from the regression analyses provided evidence of construct validity for the FRS. Overall, findings indicated that the FRS holds promise as a reliable and valid tool for assessing perceived adequacy of concrete resources among economically diverse families of children with emotional and behavioral disorders. However, the FRS could benefit from some refinements; those recommendations are discussed.
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Acknowledgments
Special thanks to the families who participated in these evaluations and generously shared their experiences so that this research could be conducted. The authors gratefully acknowledge the contribution of the program and evaluation staff in the SOC Study and FBEP communities who enrolled families and collected data and Michael Pullmann for review of a previous version. Data collection for this research was funded by the Child and Family Branch, Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA; contract numbers 280-97-8014, 280-99-8023, and 280-00-8040); the U.S. Department of the Army (DA-DA10-89-C-0013); and the National Institute of Mental Health (RO1MH-46136). CMHS/SAMHSA also funded primary development of the manuscript. Final preparation of the manuscript was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (grant number 1R21 MH067905-1A).
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Brannan, A., Manteuffel, B., Wayne Holden, E. et al. Use of the Family Resource Scale in Children’s Mental Health: Reliability and Validity among Economically Diverse Samples. Adm Policy Ment Health 33, 182–197 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-006-0032-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-006-0032-8