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Development of the Healthy Pathways Parent-Report Scales

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Abstract

Purpose

To describe the development of the Healthy Pathways Parent-Report Scales, measures of health, illness, well-being, and achievement among youth in middle childhood and adolescence.

Methods

The Healthy Pathways Scales were derived from the Child Health and Illness Profile (CHIP) instruments. The CHIP domains of Comfort, Risk Avoidance, Satisfaction, and Resilience were modified to reflect advances in child health conceptualization. Classical test and modern psychometric analyses were conducted using data collected from 1,527 parents of children aged 9–14 years. Intra-class correlation and differential item functioning analyses were used to evaluate the extent of child–parent agreement on the Healthy Pathways Scales.

Results

After minor revisions, 11 of the 12 scales were found to measure unidimensional parent-assessed outcomes comprehensively (full range of the latent trait) and efficiently (a minimal number of items). Scales were unbiased by age, gender, and geographic location. The construct validity of the scales was supported by their capacity to differentiate children with and without chronic illnesses and to detect expected age and gender differences. Child–parent agreement was poor to moderate at both the scale and item levels.

Conclusions

The Healthy Pathways Parent-Report Scales may be used to reliably, accurately, and efficiently assess unidimensional aspects of health, illness, well-being, and achievement in clinical and population-based research studies involving youth in middle childhood and adolescence.

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Abbreviations

CHIP:

Child Health and Illness Profile

CHIP-CE:

Child Health and Illness Profile-Child Edition

CHIP-CE/PRF:

Child Health and Illness Profile-child edition/parent-report form

CHIP-AE:

Child Health and Illness Profile-Adolescent Edition

IRT:

Item response theory

SHCN:

Special Health Care Need

ADHD:

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

DIF:

Differential item functioning

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Acknowledgments

The project described was supported by Grant Number R01HD048850 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development or the National Institutes of Health. We sincerely appreciate Dr. Richard Crespo’s contribution to the conceptualization of the Healthy Pathways Scales. We are indebted to our many collaborators in the participating school districts.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Katherine B. Bevans & Christopher B. Forrest

  2. Department of Population Family and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Anne W. Riley

  3. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 3535 Market Street, Room 1454, Philadelphia, PA, 19407, USA

    Katherine B. Bevans

Authors
  1. Katherine B. Bevans
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  2. Anne W. Riley
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  3. Christopher B. Forrest
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Katherine B. Bevans.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 6.

Table 6 Healthy Pathways Parent-Report Scales items, source instruments, and descriptive statistics
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Bevans, K.B., Riley, A.W. & Forrest, C.B. Development of the Healthy Pathways Parent-Report Scales. Qual Life Res 21, 1755–1770 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-012-0111-0

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