Psychometric Properties of the Maternal Worry Scale for Children With Chronic Illness

Objective: To develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a scale termed the Maternal Worry Scale (MWS) designed to measure maternal worry about children with chronic illnesses. Method: The sample consisted of 140 mothers of young children (mean age 8.2 years, 64% female) with a chronic illn...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of pediatric psychology 1998-08, Vol.23 (4), p.257-266
Main Authors: DeVet, Katherine A., Ireys, Henry T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis of Variance
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child, Preschool
Chronic Disease
chronic illness
diabetes
distress
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
juvenile rheumatoid arthritis
Male
Miscellaneous
mother
Mothers - psychology
Psychology and medicine
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychometrics - methods
Regression Analysis
Reproducibility of Results
sickle cell
Stress, Psychological - diagnosis
worry
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Summary:Objective: To develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a scale termed the Maternal Worry Scale (MWS) designed to measure maternal worry about children with chronic illnesses. Method: The sample consisted of 140 mothers of young children (mean age 8.2 years, 64% female) with a chronic illness (juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, or sickle cell disease). Maternal worry, depression, and anxiety, as well as information about the child's health and behavior, were assessed through structured interviews. Results: The MWS had good internal consistency (alpha =.94) and test-retest reliability (r =.84). Analyses indicated a single-factor structure for the MWS. Estimates of construct validity were quite positive: the MWS was moderately correlated with parental depression (r =.34–.39), anxiety (r =.27), and maternal report of child behavior problems (r =.25 [externalizing], r =.46 [internalizing]). Conclusions: The results suggest that the MWS is a useful, reliable, and valid scale for measuring worry of mothers raising children with chronic health conditions.
ISSN:0146-8693
1465-735X
DOI:10.1093/jpepsy/23.4.257