Development and validation of a multidimensional, culturally and socially inclusive Child Resilience Questionnaire (parent/caregiver report) to measure factors that support resilience: a community-based participatory research and psychometric testing study in Australia

Abstract

ObjectiveDevelop a comprehensive socially inclusive measure to assess child resilience factors.DesignA socioecological model of resilience, community-based participatory research methods and two rounds of psychometric testing created the Child Resilience Questionnaire (parent/caregiver report, child report, school report). The parent/caregiver report (CRQ-P/C) is the focus of this paper.SettingAustralia.ParticipantsCulturally and socially diverse parents/caregivers of children aged 5–12 years completed the CRQ-P/C in the pilot (n=489) and validation study (n=1114). Recruitment via a large tertiary hospital’s outpatient clinics, Aboriginal and refugee background communities (Aboriginal and bicultural researchers networks) and nested follow-up of mothers in a pregnancy cohort and a cohort of Aboriginal families.AnalysisExploratory and confirmatory factor analyses conducted to assess the structure and construct validity of CRQ-P/C subscales. Cronbach’s alpha used to assess internal consistency of subscales. Criterion validity assessed with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) parent report.ResultsConceptually developed CRQ comprised 169 items in 19 subscales across five socioecological domains (self, family, friends, school and community). Two rounds of psychometric revision and community consultations created a CRQ-P/C with 43 items in 11 scales: self (positive self, positive future, managing emotions), family (connectedness, guidance, basic needs), school (teacher support, engagement, friends) and culture (connectedness, language). Excellent scale reliability (α=0.7–0.9), except basic needs scale (α=0.61) (where a highly endorsed item was retained for conceptual integrity). Criterion validity was supported: scales had low to moderate negative correlations with SDQ total difficulty score (Rs= -0.2/–0.5. p<0.001); children with emotion/behavioural difficulties had lower CRQ-P/C scores (β=−14.5, 95% CI −17.5 to −11.6, adjusted for gender).ConclusionThe CRQ-P/C is a new multidomain measure of factors supporting resilience in children. It has good psychometric properties and will have broad applications in clinical, educational and research settings. The tool also adds to the few culturally competent measures relevant to Aboriginal and refugee background communities.

Development of a multidimensional culturally and socially inclusive measure of factors that support resilience: Child Resilience Questionnaire-Child report (CRQ-C)—a community-based participatory research and psychometric testing study in Australia

“…To ensure variation in the type and severity of adversity experienced, and the individual, family and community-level resilience factors that would be identified, families from diverse social and cultural backgrounds underpinned the questionnaire development. The development process has been described elsewhere,37 38 in brief, resilience factors were identified in a systematic review of the existing literature11 and in discussion groups with people working with higher risk families and parents and children of diverse backgrounds. These factors were grouped by the first author into socioecological domains (individual, family, friends, school and community).…”

“…Subscale internal consistency reliability was good to excellent (with the exception of the Friends scale, α=0.55). With the companion CRQ-parent report, 50 these new resilience measures will have wide-ranging applications, including research, clinical and intervention contexts.…”

“…As described elsewhere,37 38 the study aimed to develop an inclusive, multidimensional measure of resilience in children that was relevant to a range of contexts in which children may encounter adversity and show resilience. Two methodological approaches were used to ensure participation by families with diverse social and cultural backgrounds, adversity exposures and resilience factors: (1) the questionnaire was codesigned with Aboriginal and refugee background communities, populations with high levels of historic and current discrimination, intergenerational trauma and violence exposures and (2) families with a child suffering an illness or injury were recruited from outpatient clinics in a large public Victorian tertiary hospital 38.…”

“…The refugee working group added an item to capture a sense of belonging: 'I feel I belong in the place where I live'. Two items were added to each of the school scales to (1) increase congruence with CRQ--P/C, the parent/carer version (Gartland et al 50 ) and ( 2) the Aboriginal working group added an item to capture acknowledgement of culture in the school setting. Open access…”

“…To produce a brief 5-item scale, two items with the lowest factor loadings (items 7 and 8) were dropped, plus item 6 to increase consistency with the CRQ-Parent report questionnaire. 50 An EFA was conducted to assess the underlying factor structure for the two new language scales. Scree plot and eigenvalues supported a one-factor structure, explaining 21% of the variance, comprising the six Connectedness items.…”