Measuring Family-Centered Practice in Child Welfare

Abstract

Although family-centered practice has been implemented nationwide in child welfare, measures for evaluating family-centered practice have not been well-established. This study aimed to evaluate the factor structure of the Family-Centered Practice Questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to examine the factor structure of the Family-Centered Practice Questionnaire. The five-factor and second-order five-factor models of the revised Family-Centered Practice Questionnaire with 31 items both demonstrated adequate fit. The higher order of this scale was family-centered practice and five factors were mutual trust, shared decision-making, family as a unit, strengths-based practice, and cultural competence and sensitivity. Findings suggest that the revised Family-Centered Practice Questionnaire may be helpful to practitioners and researchers seeking to measure the implementation of family-centered practice in child welfare settings.