Development of a supplement to the HOME Scale for children living in impoverished urban environments.

Ertem, I O; Forsyth, B W; Avni-Singer, A J; Damour, L K; Cicchetti, D V

A Supplement to the HOME (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment Scale) for impoverished Families (SHIF) was developed for use with young children living in impoverished urban environments. After interviews with clinicians and pilot studies with families, we developed 20 items and added them to the HOME. The supplement was field tested in a sample of 73 high-risk families to evaluate its psychometric properties and ease of use. During the home visit, the Nursing Child Assessment Feeding Scale and the Nursing Child Assessment Teaching Scale were also administered to examine construct validity. Results indicated that the SHIF provided new clinical data, was easy to administer, and, when added to the HOME, had good psychometric properties, e.g., high inter-rater reliability, internal consistency, item-total reliability, and intact construct validity. The SHIF offers a reliable and valid addition to the HOME for use with young children living in impoverished urban environments.