Development and Validation of a Parental Health-Related Empowerment Scale with Low Income Parents

Abstract

Objectives: Consistent with empowerment theory, parental empowerment acts as a mechanism of change in family-based interventions to support child health. Yet, there are no comprehensive, validated measures of parental health-related empowerment to test this important perspective. Informed by empowerment theory and in the context of a community-based obesity intervention, we developed a self-report measure of parental health-related empowerment and tested its preliminary validity with low-income parents. Methods: The Parental Empowerment through Awareness, Relationships, and Resources (PEARR) is a 21-item scale designed to measure three subdimensions of empowerment including resource empowerment, critical awareness, and relational empowerment. In the fall of 2017 or the fall of 2018, low-income parents (n = 770, 88% mothers) from 16 Head Start programs in Greater Boston completed the PEARR. The resulting data were randomly split into two equal samples with complete data. The factorial structure of the PEARR was tested in the first half of the sample using principal component analysis (PCA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and subsequently confirmed with the second half of the sample using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Internal consistency coefficients were calculated for the final subscales. Results: Results from the PCA and EFA analyses identified three component factors (eigenvalues = 8.25, 2.75, 2.12) with all items loading significantly onto the hypothesized subdimension (β > 0.59 and p < 0.01). The three-factor model was subsequently confirmed with the second half of the sample using CFA (β > 0.54 and p < 0.01). Fit indices met minimum criteria (Comparative Fit Index = 0.95, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation = 0.05 (0.05, 0.06), Standardized Root-Mean-Square Residual = 0.05). Subscales demonstrated strong internal consistency (α= 0.83–0.90). Conclusions: Results support initial validity of a brief survey measuring parental empowerment for child health among Head Start parents. The PEARR can be utilized to measure changes in parental empowerment through interventions targeting empowerment as a mechanism of change.

The Perimenopausal Fatigue Self-Management Scale Is Suitable for Evaluating Perimenopausal Taiwanese Women’s Vulnerability to Fatigue Syndrome

“…The principal factor analysis for the 25 items of the P-MFSMS was shown in RMSEA (root mean square error of approximation), and the result was 0.065. The value of the RMSEA in the current study was ≤0.08, indicating an adequate fit [ 41 , 46 , 47 , 48 ]. The Tucker–Lewis index (TLI) was 0.91.…”

Development and validation of a quantitative measure for parent empowerment via transformative learning

“…To start with, although practitioners may have different understandings of the goals and meanings of parent education, the relatively high mean scores and the confirmation of the PETLQ’s two-factor model indicate that participants in general support the development of a transformative learning approach to parent empowerment that pays attention to the lived experiences of parents, the influence of social and cultural contexts in parenting, and the importance of mutual support and learning among parents. One possible explanation is that empowerment, characterized by a personally meaningful, goal-oriented process of increasing power in cognitive, emotional, and interpersonal domains ( Cattaneo and Chapman, 2010 ), is widely accepted by practitioners who want to improve their parenting intervention effectiveness ( Rodriguez et al, 2011 ; Figueroa et al, 2020 ). Thus, even for practitioners who are not familiar with the concept of transformative learning, they may still agree with some of the core ideas that align with empowerment.…”

“…Moreover, Freiberg et al (2014) constructed the Parent Empowerment and Efficacy Measure (PEEM), which aims to enhance the accountability and effectiveness of family support services by measuring participants’ sense of control or capacity to meet the challenges in parenting. Recently, based on a sample of parents from low-income families, Figueroa et al (2020) developed a self-administered questionnaire on parental health-related empowerment. Nevertheless, there are still very few quantitative measures targeting the construct of parent empowerment in the area of parenting intervention and parent education.…”

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