Training community health nurses to measure parent-child interaction: a mixed-methods study

Area of Science:

• Child development
• Public health nursing
• Parent-child interaction analysis

Background:

• Assessing parent-child interaction quality is crucial for early intervention.
• Community child health nurses (CCHNs) require reliable tools for practice.
• The Parental Responsiveness Rating Scale (PaRRiS) is a potential instrument for this assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the reliability of the Parental Responsiveness Rating Scale (PaRRiS) when used by CCHNs.
• To determine if PaRRiS can effectively measure parent-child interaction quality in a community health setting.
• To assess the feasibility and acceptability of PaRRiS for CCHNs and parents.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods study involving five CCHNs trained in using PaRRiS.
• Observation of 30 parent-child dyads during a 24-30 month child health check.
• Video recording of parent-child free-play, rated by CCHNs and a primary rater, followed by CCHN interviews.

Main Results:

• Excellent reliability was found between CCHNs and the primary rater (ICC: 0.85).
• CCHNs reported PaRRiS aligned with practice and was parent-acceptable.
• No association was observed between social disadvantage and PaRRiS scores.

Conclusions:

• PaRRiS demonstrates strong reliability for use by CCHNs in measuring parent-child interactions.
• The scale is feasible and acceptable within routine public health services.
• PaRRiS could be a valuable tool for identifying families needing support for parent-child interaction interventions.