Assessing Family Functioning: Psychometric Evaluation of the Family Star Plus

• Published date: 01 April 2021
• Author: Anna Good,Joy MacKeith
• Date: 01 April 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12488

A G  J MKTriangle Consulting, The Dock Hub, Wilbury Villas, Hove,East

Sussex, England

Assessing Family Functioning: Psychometric

Evaluation of the Family Star Plus

Objective: Toexamine the psychometric proper-

ties of the Family Star Plus, an assessment of

family functioning using a collaborative mode of

completion between the caseworker and service

user.

Background: The Family Star Plus is widely

used to assess strengths and needs within ser-

vices supporting families.

Method: In Phase 1, interrater reliability was

assessed. Phase 2 established factor structure,

internal consistency, item redundancy, and

responsiveness. In Phase 3, the FamilyStar Plus

was used to predict children’s unauthorized

school absence.

Results: Workers reliably applied Family Star

Plus scales. A unidimensional factor structure

was found with good internal consistency and

responsiveness. School absence was predicted

by the Family Star Plus.

Conclusions: These ndings demonstrate the

validity of the Family Star Plus as a tool for

assessing needs and measuring progress of fam-

ily support interventions.

Implications: The Family Star Plus can be con-

dently used and recommended as an outcomes

measurement tool.

In efforts to be more accountable and show

demonstrable change following intervention

programs, service providers have adopted more

Triangle Consulting, The Dock Hub, Wilbury Villas,Hove,

BN3 6AH, United Kingdom

(anna@triangleconsulting.co.uk).

Key Words: Evaluations, family support, parent–child rela-

tionships, parent education and guidance, quantitative.

routine use of outcomes measures to demon-

strate intervention successes, with at least

three quarters of not-for-prot organizations

measuring all or some of their work (Ógáin

et al., 2012). Policymakers value outcome mea-

surement of family support, health, social, and

education services (Hoffman et al., 2006) and

are increasingly focused on identifying services

and interventions that can be shown to improve

children’s lives(Klett-Davies et al., 2009). Inter-

est in outcome assessments is a particular focus

in countries where there is clear indication of a

need to further support families. For instance,

the interest in outcomes assessment is fuelled by

the poor state of child well-being in the United

Kingdom and United States relative to other

afuent nations (Bradshaw et al., 2007a, 2007b;

Collishaw et al., 2004) and the subsequent

societal costs of poor child outcomes (Scott

et al., 2001).

In the United States, measurement of family

outcomes is mandatory for early interven-

tion programs (Early Childhood Outcomes

Center, 2005). In the United Kingdom, the gov-

ernment’s Troubled Families Initiative offers

payment-by-results support based on outcomes

related to family functioning (e.g., crime, edu-

cation, antisocial behavior, and progress to

work) to improve outcomes for families with

entrenched and complex problems (Depart-

ment of Communities and Local Government

[DCLG], 2012). To meet assessment demands

of a payment-by-results framework, more than

50 local councils in the United Kingdom use

the Family Star Plus assessment (Burns &

MacKeith, 2017; DCLG, 2016) as part of their

Family Relations 70 (April 2021): 529–539529

DOI:10.1111/fare.12488