FAMILY-FOCUSED ASSESSMENT FOR IDENTIFYING FAMILY RESOURCES AND CONCERNS - PARENT PREFERENCES, ASSESSMENT INFORMATION, AND EVALUATION ACROSS3 METHODS

This study evaluated methods of family-focused assessment for identify ing family strengths, resources, concerns, and priorities. Specificall y, it examined(a) preferences of parents among assessment methods, (b) the nature and amount of information obtained across methods, and (c) parents' evaluations of their assessment experience. Parents of child ren with special needs enrolled in early childhood programs were rando mly assigned to one of three assessment methods for identifying family resources and concerns: (a) self-report measures (n = 14); (b) self-r eport measures combined with an interview (n = 14); or (c) open-ended interviews (n = 15). The parents were assigned either to their preferr ed method (matched) or to a nonpreferred method (mismatched). The resu lts indicated that more parents preferred completing self-report measu res in combination with a structured interview to use of self-report m easures or interviews alone. Regardless ow whether parents participate d in their preferred assessment method, the process was rated equally high across parents and methods. The findings are discussed in the con text of family-focused assessment practices for early childhood servic e delivery.