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. 2018 Sep 1;28(6):751-761.
doi: 10.1177/1049731516675033. Epub 2016 Oct 25.

Validation of a Measure of Foster Home Integration for Foster Youth

Brianne H Kothari  1 , Bowen McBeath  2   3 , Lew Bank  2   3 , Paul Sorenson  2 , Jeff Waid  4 , Sara Jade Webb  2
Affiliations

Validation of a Measure of Foster Home Integration for Foster Youth

Brianne H Kothari et al. Res Soc Work Pract. .

Abstract

Objectives: This article introduces a youth-reported measure (Essential Youth Experiences [EYE]) developed to assess the experiences of foster youth in their home environment and their critical relationships across a number of service systems. Empirically, the article reports on the psychometric properties of a 9-item scale within the EYE that measures the construct of positive home integration (PHI).

Methods: The EYE was administered to 328 preadolescent and adolescent youth (164 sibling dyads) enrolled in a larger randomized clinical trial.

Results: Correlational analysis suggests that the PHI Scale shows good psychometric properties and strong current and predictive validity.

Conclusion: The PHI is a reliable and valid scale that measures youth perspectives of inclusion in the foster home and relationships with their foster care provider. This scale quickly gathers youth perspectives and differentiates between youth who have more versus less significant needs. Implications for research and social work practice are discussed.

Keywords: foster home; foster youth; home environment; scale development; siblings.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Positive Home Integration (PHI) Scale items, baseline means, and standard deviations for older and younger siblings. These descriptive statistics reflect the winsorzied means and standard deviations of the PHI Items.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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