Development, validity and reliability of the resilience scale for parents of children with autism spectrum disorder

The aim of this study is to develop a valid and reliable scale to examine the level of resilience of parents of children with autism. To determine the features to be measured and the conceptual structure, scales and resilience models in the literature were examined. In order to determine the content validity, the content validity form adapted to the Davis technique was applied to 9 experts twice. After the pilot study was carried out with the draft form created after the content validity, the revised form was applied to the parents of children aged 0-18 with autism (n=556). Two weeks later, 139 parents were tested again. The internal consistency of the scale was evaluated by item analysis. Explanatory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis techniques were used to examine the construct validity of the scale. The content validity index of the scale was found to be .954. As a result of the factor analysis, it was seen that the scale consisting of 19 items showed a 5-factor structure explaining 53.88% of the total variance. In confirmatory factor analysis, the model fit indices of the structure created by factor combination technique were RMSEA= .033; GFI= .937; AGFI= .913; NNFI= .943; CFI= .954; NFI= .830; IFI= .956 and CMIN/DF= 1.293. Considering the model fit indices, it was determined that the measurement model was suitable. In the reliability analyses of the scale, ICC= .984 and Cronbach's alpha= .992 were found for the scale. Very strong correlation coefficients were found between the pretest and posttest, and the correlation between the two measurements was statistically significant (r= .984; p˂ .01). As a result, the validity of a 19-item scale structure consisting of 5 dimensions was validated. It can be said the scale meets the necessary criteria to examine the level of resilience in parents of children aged 0-18 with autism, and its psychometric properties are sufficient.