Parenting

The Zarit Burden Inventory (ZBI) is a self-report instrument that measures the level of burden that principal caregivers experience. Originally developed for caregivers of persons with dementia, ZBI is now used with various types of caregivers, including parents of children with health, behavioral, and developmental problems. The current full version, ZBI-22, has 22 items, each using a 5-point Likert-type scale. Shorter versions exist; see Yu et al. (2019) in the psychometric references below.

The Family Empowerment Scale (FES) measures empowerment in families whose children have emotional disabilities. The 34 items of the FES questionnaire focus on the level of empowerment (with respect to the family, service system, and larger community and political environment) and the way empowerment is expressed (attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors).

The Adult Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI-2.1) is a 40-item self-reporting inventory that measures parental behaviors and is commonly used to assess the risk of child abuse and neglect. The AAPI-2.1 provides five subscales: expectations of children, parental empathy towards children's needs, use of corporal punishment, parent-child family roles, and children's power and independence. The instrument is offered in English, Spanish, Creole, and Arabic.

The Alabama Parenting Questionnaire is a 42-item self-reporting instrument that focuses on positive involvement with children, supervision and monitoring, use of positive discipline techniques, consistency in the use of discipline, and corporal punishment use. The instrument, designed for parents with children 6-18 years of age, can be used for pre- and post-treatment and is offered in both English and Spanish.

The CARE-Index is an observation instrument that measures mother-child interaction and is designed for children ages birth to 2 years. The instrument, which requires a short videotaped play interaction, provides sensitivity, control and unresponsiveness subscales for mothers and cooperativeness, compulsivity, difficultness, and passivity subscales for children.

The Caregiver Interaction Scale (CIS) is an instrument that measures parent and caregiver behaviors and interactions with children. The instrument consists of 26 items focused on sensitivity, harshness, detachment, and permissiveness. CIS was created in 1989 at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute and used in the evaluation of North Carolina’s Smart Start Initiative.

The Child Caregiver Interaction Scale (CCIS), Revised Edition is an observation-based instrument created by Dr. Barbara Carl, Ph.D that assesses caregiver-child interaction. The 14 items are based upon the Developmentally Appropriate Practice position statements of the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s (NAEYC) and the National Health and Safety Performance Standards. The CCIS, which measures emotional, cognitive/physical, and social behaviors, is appropriate for children from birth to 5 years.

The Child-Parent Relationship Scale (CPRS) is an instrument developed at University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education and Human Development that assesses parents’ views of their relationship with their child. Created by Dr. Robert Pianta, Ph.D., the instrument consists of 30 items. There is also a short form with 15 items available.

The Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System (DPICS) is a system that assesses parent-child interactions. The instrument can be used to measure ongoing progress as well as pre- and post-treatment outcomes. The DPICS can be completed in under an hour without video equipment.

The Emotional Availability Scales (EA Scales) measures the quality of parent-child or adult-child interactions. Emotional availability refers to “the adult’s ‘receptive presence’ to the child’s emotional signals” (Biringen and Easterbrooks, 2012). Created by Dr. Zeynep Biringen, Ph.D., in 1987, the instrument is currently in its 4th edition. The EA Scales consist of both adult and child subscales and can be completed in approximately 20 minutes.