The Kempe family stress inventory: A review

Objective: The objective of this article is to review the Kempe Family Stre ss inventory (KFSI), a 10-item scale that measures risk for parenting diffi culties based upon responses to a thorough psychosocial interview. The arti cle provides a historical overview, as well as reviewing research regarding its reliability and validity. Method: Research and documentation regarding thr KFSI were gathered from jo urnals, book chapters, presentations, workshops, and intervention evaluatio n reports. Results: The KFSI has been used to predict parents' future risk of maltreat ing their children. The scale covers a variety of domains, including psychi atric history, criminal and substance abuse history, childhood history of c are, emotional functioning, attitudes towards and perception of child, disc ipline of child, and level of stress in the parent's life. Although constru ct validity has been demonstrated with the KFSI, questions remain about its specificity and sensitivity. In addition, there has been minimal reliabili ty work done on the measure. Conclusions: It is concluded that the KFSI may have clinical utility, but s hould be used as part of a more comprehensive risk assessment that includes multiple measures. Acceptable accuracy in predicting child abuse and negle ct when used by itself has not been demonstrated. There is a need for more demonstration of reliability and validity. Suggestions for future research ate noted. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd.