Development and validation of the family management scale for children with asthma (FMSCA)

Objective: This study aims to develop and validate the Family Management Scale for Children with Asthma (FMSCA) in China context.

Methods: Based on the Family Management Style Framework (FMSF) model, an original 89 items were generated from literature review and interviews with 15 caregivers of children with asthma. The preliminary scale was refined to 82 items through two rounds of experts' evaluation and a pilot study, then administered to 329 caregivers of children with asthma for testing between April and July 2013. Item analysis and exploratory factor analysis were performed to screen the items, reliability and validity analysis were tested using psychometric techniques (internal consistency, split-half reliability, test-retest reliability, content validity, and construct validity). Confirmatory factor analysis was adopted to further evaluate the construct validity of the scale in an additional 600 children with asthma and their parents from August 2014 to December 2015. 

Results: A final 57-item FMSCA from 8 subscales (children identity, view of condition, management mindset, parental mutuality, parenting philosophy, management approach, family focus, and future expectation) were generated. The excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.918), very good split-half reliability ( r  = 0.802, p  < 0.01) and test-retest reliability ( r  = 0.857, p  < 0.01) indicate a satisfactory reliability of the FMSCA. The Item Content Validity Index (I-CVI) of the scale ranged 0.8 3 ～1.00, Scale Content Validity Index (S-CVI) was 0.807, indicating a good content validity. Construct validity was established by accepted correlation coefficient of item-to-subscale ( r range = 0.513-0.865, P  < 0.01), intersubscale ( r range = 0.195-0.604, p  < 0.01), and subscale-to-total ( r range = 0.408-0.876, p  < 0.01), respectively. Additionally, the factors accounted for 51.586%∼74.063% of the variance in each subscale, confirmatory factor analysis indicated the confirmatory model fitted data well and the scale had adequate construct validity.

Conclusions: The study demonstrates FMSCA can serve as a valid and reliable measure of family management level for Chinese children with asthma.