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Child behaviour problems and childhood illness: development of the Eczema Behaviour Checklist
A E Mitchell1, A Morawska1, J A Fraser2
1Parenting and Family Support Centre, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia.
Insights
A new tool, the Eczema Behaviour Checklist (EBC), effectively measures behavior problems in children with atopic dermatitis and assesses parental confidence in managing them. This aids in better treatment and condition management for affected families.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Dermatology
- Psychology
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Children with atopic dermatitis (AD) often exhibit behavior problems, complicating management.
- Existing tools do not adequately assess AD-specific child behaviors or parental self-efficacy.
- This gap hinders effective treatment and parental support for AD management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a reliable and valid instrument to assess AD-specific child behavior problems.
- To measure parents' self-efficacy in managing these behaviors.
- To provide a tool for clinical and research settings.
Main Methods:
- Development of the 25-item Eczema Behaviour Checklist (EBC) with 'Extent' and 'Confidence' scales.
- Community-based sample of 292 parents completed the EBC and other behavioral measures.
- Psychometric evaluation including internal consistency, construct validity, and factor analysis.
Main Results:
- The EBC demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency and construct validity.
- A significant negative correlation was found between AD-specific behavior problems and parental self-efficacy.
- Factor analysis revealed a three-factor structure for both EBC scales: treatment, symptom, and illness impact behaviors.
Conclusions:
- The EBC is a reliable and valid measure for AD-specific child behavior problems and parental self-efficacy.
- AD-specific behaviors were stronger predictors of parental self-efficacy than general behaviors.
- The EBC shows potential for use in clinical practice and research for improved AD management.
Background/Objectives:
Children with atopic dermatitis are at increased risk of both general behaviour problems, and those specific to the condition and its treatment. This can hamper the ability of parents to carry out treatment and manage the condition effectively. To date, there is no published instrument available to assess child behaviour difficulties in the context of atopic dermatitis management. Our aim was to develop a reliable and valid instrument to assess atopic dermatitis-specific child behaviour problems, and parents' self-efficacy (confidence) for managing these behaviours.
Methods:
The Eczema Behaviour Checklist (EBC) was developed as a 25-item questionnaire to measure (i) extent of behaviour problems (EBC Extent scale), and (ii) parents' self-efficacy for managing behaviour problems (EBC Confidence scale), in the context of child atopic dermatitis management. A community-based sample of 292 parents completed the EBC, measures of general behaviour difficulties, self-efficacy with atopic dermatitis management and use of dysfunctional parenting strategies.
Results:
There was satisfactory internal consistency and construct validity for EBC Extent and Confidence scales. There was a negative correlation between atopic dermatitis-specific behaviour problems and parents' self-efficacy for dealing with behaviours (r = -.53, p < .001). Factor analyses revealed a three-factor structure for both scales: (i) treatment-related behaviours; (ii) symptom-related behaviours; and (iii) behaviours related to impact of the illness. Variation in parents' self-efficacy for managing their child's atopic dermatitis was explained by intensity of illness-specific child behaviour problems and parents' self-efficacy for dealing with the behaviours.
Conclusions:
The new measure of atopic dermatitis-specific child behaviour problems was a stronger predictor of parents' self-efficacy for managing their child's condition than was the measure of general child behaviour difficulties. Results provide preliminary evidence of reliability and validity of the EBC, which has potential for use in clinical and research settings, and warrant further psychometric evaluation.
