Assessing resources and stress in parents of severely dysfunctional children through the Clarke modification of Holroyd's Questionnaire on Resources and Stress.

The team trimmed Holroyd’s 103-item parent stress form to 78 questions. They kept items that best captured stress and helpful resources in parents raising children with severe autism or intellectual disability.

Parents answered the new Clarke QRS. Researchers checked if scores truly separated stressed families from a control group.

The shorter scale still held together. It showed good reliability and validity. Most important, it clearly flagged which parents carried the heaviest load.

Kaplan-Kahn et al. (2026) later shortened the 36-item Parenting Stress Index even further. They cut it to six factors for parents of preschoolers with ASD. Both studies prove lean forms can still give sharp pictures of parent stress.

Haynes et al. (2013) also re-worked a child scale, the SDQ. They dropped two weak factors and kept three strong ones for kids with ID. The pattern is the same: trim the fat, keep the power.

Oliver et al. (2002) and Gustafsson et al. (2005) show the same idea works in Swedish. They each trimmed adult-ID screens and kept solid reliability. Language or country does not break a good short form.

You now have a free, 78-item tool that takes ten minutes and gives a clear parent stress score. Use it at intake, after six months of service, or any time you need quick, valid data to guide support plans.