Further psychometric evaluation of the My Family's Accessibility and Community Engagement (My FACE) tool: Mothers' ratings of perceptions of community accessibility and engagement for their child with disabilities.
The 9-item MyFACE scale is a quick, reliable way to see if moms feel their communities welcome kids with disabilities.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked the mothers of children with disabilities to fill out the 9-item MyFACE scale.
Kids had autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, or other developmental delays.
Mothers also completed short measures of stress, anxiety, depression, and healthy habits so the researchers could check if MyFACE scores lined up with these real-life clues.
What they found
MyFACE hung together as one clean factor — all nine items measured the same thing.
Internal reliability was excellent at α = .80.
Scores moved in the expected direction: higher access linked to lower maternal stress, anxiety, and depression, and to more health-promoting activity.
How this fits with other research
Laugeson et al. (2014) also gave parents of autistic children a quality-of-life survey. Both papers used factor analysis and found strong internal consistency, showing brief parent tools can be trusted when built carefully.
Kuenssberg et al. (2011) tried to fit the Adult Asperger Assessment into traditional factor models and failed. MyFACE succeeds where AAA struggled: it shows a clear one-factor structure, so you can sum the nine items without worry.
Xia et al. (2020) validated the MAS in Chinese college students. Like MyFACE, the scale held up across cultures, hinting that short disability-attitude measures travel well.
Why it matters
You now have a nine-question snapshot of how welcome families feel in their own neighborhoods.
Use MyFACE at intake to spot parents who feel shut out; low scores flag risk for stress and depression.
Share the numbers with city councils or parks departments to win funding for inclusive playgrounds, sensory-friendly hours, or accessible transit routes.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND/AIM: My Family's Accessibility and Community Engagement (My FACE) measures mothers' perceptions of community accessibility and engagement for families raising children with a disability. This study investigated the construct validity including the factor structure and internal reliability of the MyFace scale. METHODS: Construct validity was evaluated using hypothesis testing. Structural validity was confirmed with factor analysis. Internal reliability was measured using Cronbach alpha. The nine-item MyFACE includes items representing common community destinations. A 5-point Likert scale measured perceptions of need for change and inclusion. RESULTS: Mothers (N = 83) completed an online survey with MyFACE, maternal and childhood disability scales. Hypothesis testing revealed correlations with MyFACE: Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS)-stress (r = -.25, n = 72, p = .037), DASS-anxiety (r = -.41, n = 70, p < .001,), and DASS-depression (r = -.27, n = 72, p = .023,) scales. MyFACE scores correlated with mothers' total Health Promoting Activity Scale (HPAS) scores (r = .40, n = 74, p < .001). HPAS was the strongest predictor of variation in MyFACE scores F(5, 66) = 5.68, p < .001. Factor analysis demonstrated unidimensionality. Internal reliability was excellent (Cronbach alpha = .80). CONCLUSIONS: The MyFACE tool is psychometrically sound. Compared to child factors, maternal mental health and health promoting behaviour had more influence on mothers' perceptions of family community accessibility and engagement. The MyFACE measures a unique, previously unmeasurable family construct.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2021 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2021.103955