‘How I Feel About My School’: The construction and validation of a measure of wellbeing at school for primary school children

Abstract

There is a growing focus on child wellbeing and happiness in schools, but we lack self-report measures for very young children. Three samples (N = 2345) were combined to assess the psychometric properties of the How I Feel About My School (HIFAMS) questionnaire, which was designed for children aged 4-8 years. Test re-test reliability was moderate (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.62). HIFAMS assessed a single concept and had moderate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha values from 0.62 to 0.67). There were low correlations between scores on the child-reported HIFAMS and parent-and teacher reports. Children at risk of exclusion had significantly lower HIFAMS scores than the community sample (mean difference = 2.4; 95% CI: 1.6 to 3.2; p < 0.001). Schools contributed only 4.5% of the variability in HIFAMS score; the remaining 95.5% reflecting pupil differences within schools.Girls' scores were 0.37 units (95% CI: 0.16 to 0.57; p < 0.001) higher than boys, while year group and deprivation did not predict HIFAMS score. HIFAMS is a promising measure that demonstrates moderate reliability and discriminates between groups even among very young children.

The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the Incredible Years®Teacher Classroom Management programme in primary school children: results of the STARS cluster randomised controlled trial

“…Children completed the How I Feel About My School measure (HIFAMS: Allen et al , 2017) which measures children's attitudes towards school; possible scores range from 0 to 14 (summed across seven items each scored from 0 to 2), with higher scores indicating greater happiness at school.…”

Examining the psychological and social impact of relative age in primary school children: a cross‐sectional survey

“…Higher scores indicate greater happiness at school (range 0–14). Allen et al () found that HIFAMS demonstrated adequate 2‐week test–retest reliability [Spearman's correlation ( r s ) = 0.62; 95% CI: 0.54 to 0.69] and moderate internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.62).…”

Training teachers in classroom management to improve mental health in primary school children: the STARS cluster RCT

“…HIFAMS was developed for the STARS trial and has demonstrated validity and moderate reliability among children as young as 4 years when tested in this and two other samples. 52 It has now been translated into Italian and Persian and is being used in several education-based studies in the UK. Our findings would not suggest that being taught by a TCM-trained teacher leaves children happier about their school, but, equally, the study was not powered to detect an effect using this measure.…”

“…Children completed the How I Feel About My School (HIFAMS), 52 which measures children's attitudes towards school, with higher scores indicating greater happiness. The HIFAMS is a 7-item measure of a child's attitude towards school, with scores ranging from a possible 0 to 14 (summed across seven items each scored from 0 to 2).…”