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Investigation of the Family Resource Scale in Low-Income Brazilian Families Caring for Young Children with Congenital Zika Virus Syndrome

Fri, April 9, 12:55 to 1:55pm EDT (12:55 to 1:55pm EDT), Virtual

Abstract

Background:
The 2015-2016 Zika outbreak in Brazil occurred concurrently with an unusual increase in the number of infants born with microcephaly. Epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory evidence has linked exposure to Zika infection during pregnancy to congenital microcephaly and a constellation of other birth defects affecting the central nervous system, called Congenital Zika Syndrome (CZS) (Costello et al., 2016; Melo et al., 2016). From 2015-2019, a total of 3,332 confirmed cases of CZS were reported in Brazil with nearly 70% of the total cases reported occurring in the northeast region (Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde, 2019). Recent studies investigating the developmental impact of CZS suggest that that most children have significant functional impairments and neurodevelopmental skill deficits.

A critical aspect of providing early intervention services with CZS and their families is identifying the availability and use of resources that can help reduce stress and increase parents’ capacity to focus on supporting their children’s learning and development (Bailey & Ventura, 2018; Dunst, Trivette, & Mott, 1994). However, no validated measures of family resources exist for use with this population. This study addresses this gap by conducting a psychometric evaluation of a Brazilian Portuguese version of the Family Resource Scale (FRS; Dunst & Leet, 1987), a 30-item parent-report questionnaire that provides a subjective measure of family resources relevant to child and family functioning.

Methods
Parents of children with CZS (N=50) who were receiving services at a rehabilitation hospital in Recife, Brazil completed a background questionnaire and other measures of family well-being in addition to the FRS. The FRS was linguistically and culturally adapted through a process of forward translation, backward translation, and comprehensibility testing prior to examination of its psychometric properties.

Preliminary results
Reliability of the scales based on the factor structure of both the original six-factor FRS and a revised four-factor version containing 20 of the original FRS items (FRS-R) were examined. For the FRS, the total scale score was adequate (alpha=.79); however, alphas for the six subscales ranged from .46 (unacceptable) to .85 (acceptable). Likewise, for the FRS-R, the total scale score was good (alpha=.86), but subscale alphas ranged from .21 to .82. The low reliability of several subscales across both scoring procedures suggests that these structures, which were established in primarily White samples, may not replicate in the Brazilian Portuguese context.

Conclusion
Preliminary examination of the internal consistency of the FRS scales based on established six-factor and four-factor scoring approaches yielded low internal consistency estimates for scales in this sample. Our next steps include 1) using principal components analysis to identify a factor structure that best fits the data in this sample, and 2) establishing the validity of this measure by exploring the associations between the subscales identified through the exploratory factor analysis and child (e.g. health problems/needs) and caregiver characteristics (e.g., depression, coping). Validation of a Brazilian Portuguese version of the FRS will advance research and practice in early childhood intervention by providing a psychometrically sound and culturally appropriate tool for assessing family resources that could impact parent wellbeing and children’s developmental outcomes.

Authors