Validity of the revised Impact on Family (IOF) scale

The use of the Impact on Sibling scale with families of children with chronic illness and developmental disability

OBJECTIVE

This study evaluated the Impact on Sibling scale, a six-item measure of parents' perception of the effects of a child's illness on healthy siblings.

METHODS

Participants were 122 parents of a child with chronic illness, developmental disability, or autism spectrum disorder, and a well sibling aged 4-13 years. Parents completed the Impact on Sibling scale and the Child Behavior Checklist about the sibling, and completed the revised Impact on Family scale and the Brief Symptom Inventory about themselves.

RESULTS

The Impact on Sibling score was correlated with measures of sibling, parent and family functioning. The internal consistency of the Impact on Sibling scale was higher for families with children with chronic illness compared with the other two diagnostic groups.

CONCLUSION

The Impact on Sibling scale is a brief set of items that can help identify siblings who are negatively affected by a brother/sister's illness. Findings support further research on the Impact on Sibling scale, particularly with families of children with chronic illnesses.

Turkish version of impact on family scale: a study of reliability and validity

Background

Although there is a considerably high prevalence of developmental disorders in Turkey there are not many assessment tools related to evaluating the impact of these children on their family. The aim of this study was to determine the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Impact on Family Scale (IPFAM), a health related quality of life measurement to be utilized in clinical trials, health care services, research and evaluation.

Methods

Caregivers of 85 children with developmental disabilities answered the questionnaire and 65 of them answered it twice with a one week interval. The reliability of the measurement was assessed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient, and with intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for test-retest reliability. Construct validity was assessed by calculating the correlation between total impact score of IPFAM, WeeFIM and the physiotherapists' evaluation via Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) to determine the child's disability.

Results

Test-retest reliability was found to be ICC = 0.953 for total impact, 0.843 for financial support, 0.940 for general impact, 0.871 for disruption of social relations and 0.787 for coping. Internal consistency was tested using Cronbach's alpha and was found to be 0.902 for total impact of IPFAM. For construct validity the correlation between total impact score of IPFAM and WeeFIM was r = -0,532 (p < 0.001) and the correlation between total impact score of IPFAM and the physiotherapist's evaluation was r = 0.519 (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

The Turkish version of IPFAM was found to be a reliable and valid instrument for assessing the impact of developmental disorders of the child on the family.