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A Review of Outcome Measures in Early Childhood Programs
Author(s) -
Mannan Hasheem,
Summers Jean Ann,
Turnbull Ann P.,
Poston Denise J.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of policy and practice in intellectual disabilities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.592
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1741-1130
pISSN - 1741-1122
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-1130.2006.00083.x
Subject(s) - psychology , empowerment , inclusion (mineral) , quality (philosophy) , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , social psychology , political science , law , philosophy , epistemology
The authors undertook a review of measures available for assessing outcomes of early childhood services for children with disabilities and their families. With principles of family‐centered practice mandating the inclusion of both family and child outcome measures in effective evaluation plans, the review examined measures with established psychometric properties for (a) documenting the effectiveness of partnerships with families, and (b) documenting the effectiveness of services and supports for families. Constructs and their associated measures related to partnerships include satisfaction with the overall program and empowerment. The constructs for outcomes of supports and services include social support, parenting, and family quality of life. The authors reviewed measures for each of the five constructs. They note that the selection of appropriate measures to assess the outcomes of family support and services depends on the specific configuration of support services provided by the program and that each program may have to be explicit about the outcomes it wants to impact and therefore measure.