Development of parental competence scale in parents of children with autism

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to develop and psychometrically of parental competence scale in parents of children with autism.
Design & methodsThis mixed-methods design with a sequential exploratory approach was conducted in May 2017 until June 2018 in the south of Iran. In the first phase, a conventional content analysis method was per-formed with the participation of 16 parents of children with autism. Interviews were held in the autism association offices in an urban area of Iran. In the second phase, validity and reliability of this instrument were assessed with 300 parents of children with autism.
ResultsDuring content validity testing, 12 items were deleted. Content validity ratio and index were 0.75 and 0.85, respectively. In face validity, impact scores for all items were reported as N1.5. Factor analysis led to the development of a 2-factor solution accounting for 71.4% of the observed variance.Reliability of the instrument using the calculation of the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was reported as 0.98 for the entire instrument. No statistically significant difference was reported between the pre and post-test scores of parental competence (p=0.46).The parental competence scale demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties.

ConclusionThe parental competence scale demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties. Therefore, this scale can be used for assessing parental competence in parents of children with autism.
Practice implicationsThis scale can be used in future research and for educational and practical purposes with the aim of identifying parents' issues and improving the quality of life of parents of children with autism.