Family Functioning in Pediatric Primary Care Patients

Abstract

Introduction. The purpose of this study was to pilot a brief measure of family functioning (Family Assessment Device–General Functioning [FAD_GF]) with caregivers of children aged 2 to 18 years, seen for routine pediatric primary care visits. Methods. This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the FAD_GF in a pediatric primary care sample of 400 families. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate the FAD_GF using R, and WLSMV was used to estimate missing variables. Results. The FAD_GF was found to be reliable with this sample, α = .90. The model fit was χ2(54) = 56.44, P = .38, with root mean square error of approximation = .01 and comparative fit index = .99. The 12 items were significantly predicted by family functioning, and family functioning explained more than 20% of the variance in the items, R2 > .25. Overall, 12.6% (n = 46) of families were identified as having clinically impaired family functioning. Discussion. The FAD_GF provides clinicians the ability to make evidence-informed decisions regarding referrals to family therapists.