Measures to Assess Efficacy of Family‐Based Programs for Indigenous Populations: Adaptation, Psychometric Properties, and Congruence

To rigorously evaluate family-based prevention programs, there is need for culturally appropriate, valid, and reliable evaluation measures; few have been validated for use with Indigenous children and families. Our first aim was to adapt family and individual functioning measures for use with Indigenous families to evaluate family-based prevention programming. Our second aim was to examine the factor structure of the adapted measures. Our third aim was to examine the congruence between child and caregiver reports on family-level measures. Indigenous children aged 10-14 (N = 177; 44.07% girls) and their Indigenous caregivers (N = 119; 89.92% women; average age = 40.34 years) responded to a baseline survey comprised of measures adapted for the current study: cultural connection, emotion regulation, future orientation, harsh parenting, parental monitoring, positive reinforcement, family cohesion, and parent-child communication. An exploratory factor analysis for cultural connection found two-factor solutions for both children and caregivers; however, the factors were not identical. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated satisfactory model fit for emotion regulation, future orientation, harsh parenting, parental monitoring, and positive reinforcement. Confirmatory factor analyses did not indicate satisfactory model fit for family cohesion and parent-child communication; we recommend further research on measures for these constructs. Given the high potential for family-based programs to impact a number of outcomes for Indigenous children and families, validation of measurement tools to assess these outcomes is critical. Trial Registration: This study was pre-registered at Clinical Trials; see https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05129501?term=katie+edwards&draw=2&rank=5.