Measures of family function in primary care

January 01, 0001

Measures of family function in primary care

Family functioning may play an important role in both normal and abnormal development, especially in young children. These Scottish researchers sought to identify all such questionnaire measures of family functioning that could be of use in primary care. They performed a systematic literature review using 14 bibliographic databases to identify such measures family functioning for children (0-3 years of age).

The researchers found 107 different measures of family functioning. These tools were grouped into foci of parent-child relationships, parental practices and discipline, parental beliefs, marital quality, global family functioning and situation-specific measures. The measures were tabulated and the most commonly used tools were identified in more detail.

The researchers concluded: "There are numerous measures available demonstrating characteristics, which make them suitable for continued use. Future research is needed to examine the more holistic measurement of family functioning using integration of multi-informant data."

A thorough delineation and tabulation of tools to help characterize family functioning in primary care settings

For the full abstract, click here.

Family Practice 28(2):172-187, April 2011 © 2011 the Author
Quick, simple measures of family relationships for use in clinical practice and research. A systematic review. Rachel Pritchett, Jeremy Kemp, Philip Wilson, Helen Minnis, Graham Bryce and Christopher Gillberg.

Category: A. General/Unspecified. Keywords: family functioning, measures, questionnaire, children, primary care, systematic review, journal watch.
Synopsis edited by Dr Paul Schaefer, Toledo, Ohio. Posted on Global Family Doctor 6 May 2011

Pearls are an independent product of the Cochrane primary care group and are meant for educational use and not to guide clinical care.

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