General Description
The Partnership Scale contains two subscales: Child-Focused Relationships, and Family-Focused Relationships. This scale is designed to be used as a research tool. Some examples of potential uses of the scale include:
· As an evaluation tool to measure satisfaction with programs
· As an outcome measure to assess pre- and post- effects of training on the family-professional partnerships
· As a measure of a variable (relationship satisfaction) that might affect other family outcomes, such as family quality of life, participation in education, etc.
How It Was Developed
The initial framework for scale development resulted from extensive literature reviews, focus groups, and individual interviews with family members of children with and without disabilities, individuals with disabilities, service providers, and administrators of service agencies. These participants were asked to describe what a "good" partnership between families and professionals meant to them.
The research team then analyzed the transcripts to put together all comments in similar groups or categories. These, in turn, were grouped in six domains of family-professional partnership: Commitment, Competency, Respect, Trust, Communication, and Equality (see a detailed description of this stage of development in Blue-Banning, et al., 2004).
Next, we developed a pilot version of the Family Professional Partnership Scale containing 60 items, which was administered to 291 family members in a national pilot study. Because we believe that importance was a more stable characteristic than satisfaction, we asked participants to rate both importance and satisfaction for each item, on a five-point Likert scale. An exploratory factor analysis produced a 2-factor solution: Child-Focused Relationships, and Family-Focused Relationships. At this stage we eliminated items that did not load strongly (above 0.4 Chronbach's alpha) on a factor, and also re-worded and clarified some items.
Further validation of the factor structure of the Family Professional Partnership Scale occurred in a second national study involving a total of 205 families. In a confirmatory factor analysis, we refined the scale to a total of 18 items, with 9 items each in the Child-Focused and Family-Focused domains.
Psychometric Properties
For a detailed description of the psychometric evaluation of the Family-Professional Partnership Scale, see Summers, Hoffman, Marquis, Turnbull, Poston, and Nelson, 2005. Here is a brief summary of the findings reported in that article:
· For importance ratings, the fit statistics for the Child-Focused factor was χ² (27) – 81, p < .001, CFI = .89, RMSEA = 11. For the Family-Focused factor, the fit was χ² (27) = 47, p < .001, CFI = .95, RMSEA = .07. The overall fit for the 18-item 2-factor model for importance ratings was χ² (134) = 221, p < .001, CFI = .91, RMSEA = .06.
· Chronbach's alpha for importance ratings on the 18-item Scale was 0.93; for the 9 Child-Focused items it was 0.90, and for the 9 Family-Focused items it was 0.88.
· For satisfaction ratings, the fit statistics for the Child-Focused factor was χ² (27) = 47, p < .001, CFI = .97, RMSEA = .07. For the Family-Focused factor, the fit was χ² (27) = 61, p < .001, CFI = .94, RMSEA = .09. The 2-factor satisfaction model fit statistics were χ² (134) = 270, p < .001, CFI = .90, RMSEA = .08.
· Chronbach's alpha for satisfaction ratings on the 18-item Scale was 0.96; for the 9 Child-Focused items is was 0.94, and for the 9 Family-Focused items it was 0.92.
BeachCenter Family-Professional Partnership Scale – Scoring and Items
The Partnership Scale uses satisfaction as the primary response format. The anchors of items rated on satisfaction are rated on a 5-point scale, where 1 = very dissatisfied, 3 = neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, and 5 = very satisfied.
There are 18 items in the final Partnership scale. Below are the items keyed to each of the two sub-scales:
Child-Focused Relationships:
How satisfied are you that your child's teacher (or provider, etc.)
· Has the skills to help your child succeed.
· Meets the individual needs of your child.
· Assists you in gaining skills or information to meet your child's needs.
· Speaks up for your child's best interests when working with other staff.
· Lets you know about the good things your child does.
· Makes sure your child is safe at school.
· Treats your child with dignity.
· Builds on your child's strengths.
· Values your opinion about your child's needs.
Family-Focused Relationships:
How satisfied are you that your child's teacher (or provider, etc.):
· Is honest, even when there is bad news to give.
· Is dependable about returning your e-mails or phone calls.
· Uses words that you understand.
· Protects your family's privacy.
· Shows respect for your family's values and beliefs.
· Listens without judging your child or family.
· Is a person you can depend on and trust.
· Pays attention to what you have to say.
· Is friendly.
The Partnership Scale is available free of charge. To order, email
beachcenter@ku.edu.
References
Blue-Banning, M., Summers, J.A., Nelson, L.L., Frankland, C, & Beegle, G.P. (2004) Dimensions of family and professional partnerships: Constructive guidelines for collaboration. Exceptional Children, 70(2), 167-184.
Nelson, L.G.L., Summers, J.A., & Turnbull, A.P. (2004). Boundaries in family-professional relationships: Implications for special education. Remedial and Special Education, 25, 253-165.
Summers, J.A., Hoffman, L., Marquis, J., Turnbull, A., Poston, D., & Nelson, L.L. (2005). Measuring the quality of family-professional partnerships in special education services. Exceptional Children, 72(1), 65-83.
Summers, J.A., Hoffman, L., Marquis, J., & Turnbull, A. (2005). Parent satisfaction with their partnerships with professionals across different ages of their children. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 25(1), 48-58.
Summers, J.A., Marquis, J., Mannan, H., Turnbull, A.P., Fleming, K., Poston, D., Wang, M., & Kupzck, K. (in press). Relationship of perceived adequacy of services, family-professional partnerships, and family quality of life in early childhood service programs. International Journal of Development, Disability, and Education.