Measuring social support among kinship caregivers: validity and reliability of the Family Support Scale

Child Welfare. 2012;91(6):59-78.

Abstract

The scope of research about kinship care has expanded. One area of interest is the impact social support has on kinship caregivers (Kelley, Whitley, & Campos, 2011). The Family Support Scale (FSS) has been used to measure social support among kinship caregivers (Kelley et al., 2011; Leder et al., 2007); however, there has been no rigorous examination of the psychometric properties of the FSS when administered to kinship caregivers. This study used a sample of 255 kinship caregivers to conduct a principal component analysis and developed a four-component structure for the FSS. The results suggest that the four-component structure identifies four sub-scales that have adequate face validity and internal consistency validity with this population.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Validation Study

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Case Management
  • Child
  • Child Welfare / psychology*
  • Foster Home Care / psychology*
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Psychometrics / statistics & numerical data*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Social Support*
  • Social Work
  • Surveys and Questionnaires*
  • Young Adult