Development and Testing of the School Healthcare Partnership Scale for Parents.

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Nursing
• School Health Management
• Chronic Condition Care

Background:

• Parent-school nurse cooperation is vital for children with long-term conditions.
• Effective partnerships support academic success and well-being in school.
• Children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) require coordinated school health care (SHC).

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a scale measuring parental perceptions of school nurse-parent partnerships.
• To assess the School Healthcare Partnership Scale for Parents (SHCPS-P) for reliability and validity.
• To provide a tool for evaluating SHC system effectiveness from a parental perspective.

Main Methods:

• Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and principal axis factoring were used.
• Content, factorial, convergent, discriminant, and known-group validity were assessed.
• Internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.95) and test-retest reliability (r = 0.95) were evaluated.

Main Results:

• A 17-item, 3-dimension scale (SHCPS-P) was developed, explaining 53.57% of variance.
• The scale showed high convergent validity with satisfaction and moderate with safety.
• Discriminant validity was supported, and known-group comparisons showed significant differences.

Conclusions:

• The SHCPS-P is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing parental perceptions of SHC partnerships.
• This scale can serve as an indicator for parents' views on school health care for children with T1D.
• The findings support the use of SHCPS-P to enhance collaborative care models.