Abstract
BackgroundInsight into parental empowerment is important to understanding the impact of health care policy and to supporting and strengthening parents in the care of their child. The Family Empowerment Scale (FES) is a valid 24‐item instrument that measures parental empowerment. It was originally developed for parents of children with emotional disabilities. It has been translated from English into Dutch.Before using the translated FES in another context, the aim of this study was to assess the content validity of the Dutch FES in the context of children with a chronic condition in a children's hospital, according to parents and nurses.MethodThis content validity study has a convergent, mixed‐methods design. The content validity index was used to examine the relevance, according to 22 parents and 12 nurses quantitatively, on a scale and item level. The qualitative part assessed the comprehensiveness and comprehension of the FES through cognitive interviewing with eight parents and four nurses. The results of both analyses were converged to determine content validity.ResultsThe scale‐content validity index was 0.88; three items scored < 0.78 on the item level. For 10 (of 24) items, issues were noticed about the tone and clarity of wording. Participants considered the FES to be not only an instrument of research but also an instrument that could be used to give insight into the personal degree of parental empowerment.ConclusionThe content validity of the Dutch FES for parents of children with a chronic condition can be considered sufficient. Resolving some minor translation issues in some of the items is advised. The FES can be used in further research to examine the value of the FES in health care services, aiming to support the needs of parents and to increase their empowerment.
Highlights
There has been growing attention paid to the empowerment of patients' families, especially to the parents of a child with a chronic condition, as they are the primary caregivers of their child (Coffey, 2006; Holmström & Röling, 2010; Smith, Swallow, & Coyne, 2015)
Increased parental empowerment has a positive impact on well‐being, self‐efficacy, and levels of stress, and it is associated with an improved ability of parents to make adequate choices regarding their children's treatment (Koren et al, 1992; Vuorenmaa et al, 2014)
This study shows sufficient content validity of the Dutch Family Empowerment Scale (FES) for parents of children with a chronic condition in a hospital setting
Summary
There has been growing attention paid to the empowerment of patients' families, especially to the parents of a child with a chronic condition, as they are the primary caregivers of their child (Coffey, 2006; Holmström & Röling, 2010; Smith, Swallow, & Coyne, 2015). Parents of a child with a chronic condition often provide complex care and treatment and manage their child's conditions (Gannoni & Shute, 2010; Gibson, 1995; Smith et al, 2015) They face challenges that are different from those of families with healthy children, often including increased worries and distress (Cashin, Small, & Solberg, 2008; Coffey, 2006; Swallow, Lambert, Santacroce, & Macfadyen, 2011). The Family Empowerment Scale (FES) is a valid 24‐item instrument that measures parental empowerment It was originally developed for parents of children with emotional disabilities. The qualitative part assessed the comprehensiveness and comprehension of the FES through cognitive interviewing with eight parents and four nurses The results of both analyses were converged to determine content validity. The FES can be used in further research to examine the value of the FES in health care services, aiming to support the needs of parents and to increase their empowerment
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
