[Assessing risk exposure in families within the scope of early intervention: the Heidelberg Stress scale (HBS) and its quality criteria].
The aim of the study presented is to introduce the newly developed instrument to assess stress, the Heidelberg Stress Scale (Heidelberger Belastungsskala--HBS), and to examine its psychometric characteristics. The HBS was developed for a low-threshold and multi-professional assessment of a family's stresses and resources after the birth of a child. The HBS can be used in the outreach work of family midwives, for instance, as well as in research. The validity of the HBS was tested in a sample of 284 psychosocially stressed families after the birth of their child; the inter-rater reliability was tested in a sample of 41 families that were also in stress. The HBS exhibits an excellent inter-rater reliability within a homogeneous professional group (psychology students). As relates to the construct validity, a strong positive connection between the HBS and Kindler's screening sheet was found; the HBS exhibits a negative correlation with maternal sensitivity and a positive correlation with maternal stress level. With a high level of stress in the HBS, the risk of taking the child into care is increased by 4.5 times; the sensitivity amounts to 63.6%. The quality criteria are satisfactory.
Institut für Psychosomatische Kooperationsforschung und Familientherapie, Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg. anna.sidor@med.uni-heidelberg.de
Anna
A
Sidor
Andreas
A
Eickhorst
Michael
M
Stasch
Manfred
M
Cierpka
D002649:Child Abuse / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D018479:Early Intervention, Educational; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D015588:Observer Variation; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011610:Psychosocial Deprivation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis