Chicago Parent Program for Foster and Kinship Caregivers

The Parental Stress Scale is an 18-item questionnaire that assesses parental stress relating to parental sensitivity to the child, child behavior, and quality of the caregiver-child relationship. Items are rated on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 ("Strongly disagree") to 5 ("Strongly agree"). Some items are reverse scored. Items are summed to yield a total score, with higher scores indicating higher levels of parental stress.

The Perceived Stress Scale is a 14-item self-report measure of how unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloaded individuals find their life circumstances. All items are rated on a 5-point scale, ranging from 0 ("Never") to 4 ("very often"). Some items are reverse scored. Responses are summed to yield a total score (range 0-56), with higher scores indicating greater perceived stress.

The Child Adjustment & Parent Efficacy Scale, Total Intensity subscale is a 27-item measure of child behavior and emotional problems. Item responses are rated on a 4-point scale, ranging from 0 ("Not true of my child at all") to 3 ("True of my child very much"/"Most of the time"). Twenty-four items are summed to yield a Behavior Problems score (range 0-72), and three items are summed to yield an Emotional Problems score (range 0-9). Behavioral and Emotional Problems scores can be summed for a Total Intensity score (range 0-81). Higher scores indicate a higher level of problems.

The Child Adjustment & Parent Efficacy Scale, Parenting Efficacy subscale is a 19-item measure of parental self-efficacy. Item responses are rated on a 10-point scale, with responses ranging from 1 ("Certain I can't do it") to 10 ("Certain I can do it"). Items are summed to yield a total efficacy score, with higher scores indicating higher self-efficacy.

The Parenting Sense of Competence Scale is a 17-item questionnaire that measures overall parenting satisfaction and competence. Items are measured on a 6-point scale, with responses ranging from 1 ("Strongly disagree") to 6 ("Strongly agree"). Some items are reverse scored. Items are summed to yield two subscales: parental satisfaction and parental self-efficacy. Higher scores indicate higher levels of parental satisfaction and parental self-efficacy.

The Parenting Behaviors and Dimensions Questionnaire is a 33-item measure of contemporary parenting behavior that measures six core dimensions of parenting: Emotional Warmth, Punitive Discipline, Anxious Intrusiveness, Autonomy Support, Permissive Discipline, and Democratic Discipline. Items are rated on a 6-point scale ranging from 1 ("Never") to 7 ("Always"). Higher scores indicate higher levels of the parenting dimension.

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire is a 25-item questionnaire that assesses child behavior. Items are rated on a 3-point scale and responses range from 0 ("Not true") to 2 ("Certainly true"). Some items are reverse scored. Items are summed to yield 5 subscales: Emotional Problems, Conduct Problems, Hyperactivity, Peer Problems, and Prosocial. A total score is calculated using the sum of all the subscales, except Prosocial. Higher scores in each subscale and the total score indicate more child behavior problems.

A 5-minute caregiver-child behavioral observation will be recorded and subsequently coded by two trained coordinators and the PI using is the Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System Comprehensive Manual for Research and Training 4th edition (DPICS-IV).91 The observation will involve a free-play period and a caregiver-directed clean-up from the play activity. The recording will be coded for caregiver positive statements (acknowledgment, description, unlabeled praise, labeled praise, reflection), statements to avoid (questions, indirect commands, negative talk), and direct commands. Child compliance, non-compliance, and instances where the child did not have the opportunity to comply with caregiver commands are also coded.

The child welfare administrative record will be reviewed to assess number of child participants experiencing a placement change due to child behavior problems.