Objective

To develop the Stress Scale for Parents With Cleft Lip and/or Palate Children in Taiwan and to evaluate the psychometric properties of the scale with a group of parents who have children with cleft lip and/or palate.

Design

In phase 1, qualitative procedures were conducted in constructing the item pool for the Stress Scale for Parents With Cleft Lip and/or Palate Children. Psychometric properties of the scale were assessed in phase 2.

Setting

Outpatient department of a children's hospital in northern Taiwan.

Participants

Phase 1 included 21 parents of children with cleft lip and/or palate. Phase 2 included 184 parents of children with cleft lip and/or palate.

Interventions

The item pool was developed by interview, content analysis, and literature review. Problematic items were identified by item analysis.

Main Outcome Measures

Exploratory factor analysis was used to examine the construct validity. Reliabilities were evaluated by Cronbach alpha and intraclass correlation coefficients.

Results

Thirty-three items with a content validity index greater than .80 were recognized. They were grouped into four categories by exploratory factor analysis and accounted for 42.34% of the total variance. Internal consistency reliability was high for the total scale (Cronbach a = .90) and ranged from .71 to .84 on the subscales. Test-retest reliability with intraclass correlation coefficient was .94 on the total scale (p < .0001, 95% confidence interval) and from .90 to .96 for the subscales.

Conclusions

The Stress Scale for Parents With Cleft Lip and/or Palate Children appears to be a reliable tool with strong evidence of content and construct validity that may be useful in assessing parental stress in the caretakers of children with cleft lip and/or palate.