title: 'How I Feel About My School': The construction and validation of a measure of wellbeing at school for primary school children.
abstract: There is a growing focus on child wellbeing and happiness in schools, but we lack self-report measures for very young children. Three samples ( N = 2345) were combined to assess the psychometric properties of the How I Feel About My School (HIFAMS) questionnaire, which was designed for children aged 4-8 years. Test-retest reliability was moderate (intraclass correlation coefficient = .62). HIFAMS assessed a single concept and had moderate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha values from .62 to .67). There were low correlations between scores on the child-reported HIFAMS and parent and teacher reports. Children at risk of exclusion had significantly lower HIFAMS scores than the community sample (mean difference = 2.4; 95% confidence interval (CI) = [1.6, 3.2]; p < .001). Schools contributed only 4.5% of the variability in HIFAMS score, the remaining 95.5% reflecting pupil differences within schools. Girls' scores were 0.37 units (95% CI = [0.16, 0.57]; p < .001) higher than boys, while year group and deprivation did not predict HIFAMS score. HIFAMS is a promising measure that demonstrates moderate reliability and discriminates between groups even among very young children.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Child Health, University of Exeter Medical School, UK.
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.affiliation: 5 Institute of Health Services Research, University of Exeter Medical School, UK.
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Marlow
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Child Health, University of Exeter Medical School, UK.
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.affiliation: 2 Devon Autism and ADHD Service, Devon Partnership NHS Trust, UK.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.affiliation: 3 NIHR CLAHRC South West Peninsula (PenCLAHRC), University of Exeter Medical School, UK.
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rodgers
authors.affiliation: 3 NIHR CLAHRC South West Peninsula (PenCLAHRC), University of Exeter Medical School, UK.
authors.forename: Obioha C
authors.initials: OC
authors.lastname: Ukoumunne
authors.affiliation: 4 Devon Partnership NHS Trust, UK.
authors.forename: Edward Chan
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Seem
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Child Health, University of Exeter Medical School, UK.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hayes
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Child Health, University of Exeter Medical School, UK.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Price
authors.affiliation: 5 Institute of Health Services Research, University of Exeter Medical School, UK.
authors.forename: Tamsin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ford
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012574:Schools; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Happiness at school; How I Feel About My School; assessment; child mental health; child self-report measures