Home Screening Questionnaire: its validity in assessing home environment.

Area of Science:

• Child Development
• Environmental Health
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Identifying suboptimal home environments is crucial for early childhood development.
• The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) Inventory is a comprehensive tool but requires home visits.
• A need exists for a brief, practical screening tool for use by healthcare providers serving low-income families.

Purpose of the Study:

• To adapt segments of the HOME Inventory into a brief screening questionnaire.
• To develop a practical tool for identifying home environments potentially suboptimal for child development.
• To create a tool suitable for healthcare providers serving low-income populations.

Main Methods:

• Adapted segments of the HOME Inventory to create the Home Screening Questionnaire (HSQ).
• Developed two HSQ forms for different age groups (birth to 3 years and 3 to 6 years).
• Administered HSQ to over 1500 parents from low-income families; questions designed for 3rd-6th grade reading level.

Main Results:

• The HSQ identified 81% to 86% of concerning home environments previously identified by the HOME Inventory.
• The HSQ is brief (15-20 minutes for completion, 5 minutes for scoring) and does not require a home visit.
• The HSQ demonstrated high agreement with the HOME Inventory in identifying at-risk environments.

Conclusions:

• The Home Screening Questionnaire (HSQ) is a valid, efficient, and cost-effective tool for screening home environments.
• The HSQ is practical for healthcare providers to use with low-income families.
• The HSQ facilitates early identification of environmental factors impacting child development.