Trauma-Informed Care Beliefs Scale-Comprehensive for Child Welfare Carers Using Rasch Analysis.

Date
2024-08-16
Authors
Beehag, Nathan
Dryer, Rachel
McGrath, Andrew
Krägeloh, Chris
Medvedev, Oleg
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Abstract

BACKGROUND: The literature on trauma-informed care practices (TIC) indicates that this framework is beneficial for young people, carers, and staff. However, a significant gap in the literature and practice is the absence of psychometrically sound scales to measure carer adherence to TIC principles. Emerging evidence suggests that TIC practices shift carer attitudes and beliefs, which mediate positive outcomes for both carers and young people.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a theoretically comprehensive and psychometrically sound measure of carer TIC beliefs using Rasch methodology. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Active carers (N = 719, M = 43 years, SD = 10.7 years) from online support groups in Australia, Canada, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland completed the questionnaire online.

METHODS: Based on previous research (e.g., limitations of the Trauma-Informed Belief Scale-Brief [TIBS-B]; Beehag, Dryer, et al., 2023a) and a scoping review of the TIC literature (Beehag, 2023), 61 candidate items were created that covered the three main characteristics of carer-related TIC theory (i.e., beliefs on TIC strategies to manage trauma symptoms, beliefs on the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACE), and beliefs on the importance of self-care/reflection). The resulting data was subjected to Rasch analyses.

RESULTS: Following analyses and minor modifications, a 35-item version of the questionnaire was confirmed, which fitted the Rasch model and demonstrated unidimensionality, reasonable targeting, and sound internal consistency reliability (Person Separation Index = 0.81).

CONCLUSIONS: The TIBS-C is a psychometrically sound measure of child welfare carer TIC beliefs. Future studies are needed to provide further evidence of its validity (e.g., predictive validity), reliability (e.g., test-retest reliability) and clinical utility.

Description
Keywords
Adverse childhood experiences , Child welfare , Childhood trauma , Psychometric scale , Trauma informed care beliefs , 1602 Criminology , 1607 Social Work , 1701 Psychology , Developmental & Child Psychology , 4402 Criminology , 4409 Social work , 5201 Applied and developmental psychology
Source
Child Abuse Negl, ISSN: 0145-2134 (Print); 1873-7757 (Online), Elsevier BV, 155, 106966-. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2024.106966
Rights statement
© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).