Development and Evaluation of a Parenting Resilience Elements Questionnaire (PREQ) Measuring Resiliency in Rearing Children with Developmental Disorders

PLoS One. 2015 Dec 3;10(12):e0143946. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0143946. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

We developed a parenting resilience elements questionnaire (PREQ) measuring the degree to which mothers possess elements that aid in adapting to challenges and difficulties related to children with developmental disorders (DD). A total of 424 parents of children with DD were recruited from five medical institutes. Psychometric properties of PREQ were evaluated using data of 363 mothers of children with DD. Furthermore, multiple regression analysis was performed, predicting depressive symptoms and parenting behavior with PREQ subscales, a general health questionnaire, and the total difficulties score of a strength and difficulties questionnaire. Factor analysis revealed three reliable factors: "knowledge of the child's characteristics," "perceived social supports," and "positive perceptions of parenting." Moreover, multiple regression analysis showed that "knowledge of the child's characteristics" was associated with parenting behavior, whereas "perceived social supports" predicted depressive symptoms; "positive perceptions of parenting" influenced both parenting behavior and depressive symptoms. These findings indicated that the PREQ may be used as a scale measuring resiliency in mothers of children with DD and is useful for evaluating their parenting ability in clinical interventions.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Child
  • Child Rearing*
  • Developmental Disabilities / physiopathology
  • Developmental Disabilities / psychology*
  • Factor Analysis, Statistical
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Parenting*
  • Parents / psychology*
  • Psychometrics
  • Resilience, Psychological*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a Health and Labour Sciences Research Grant for Comprehensive Research on Disability Health and Welfare (H24 - SHINTAI/CHITEKI – IPPAN - 007) from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and Grant-in Aids for Young Scientists (15K20756) by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.