Use of the questionnaire on resources and stress (QRS-F) with parents of young children with autism.
The QRS-F is a solid, short stress survey for parents of preschoolers with autism.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Honey et al. (2005) checked if a short stress survey works for parents of preschoolers with autism.
The team gave the 31-item QRS-F to parents and looked at reliability and validity.
They wanted a quick tool researchers could trust to measure parenting stress.
What they found
The QRS-F total score showed good reliability and validity for these families.
In plain words, the survey gives steady, believable numbers about parent stress.
How this fits with other research
Tavassoli et al. (2012) later built the autism-specific APSI scale; both papers aim to validate short parent-stress tools, so the 2012 work conceptually replicates the 2005 goal with a newer, autism-focused form.
Yamane (2021) went further, tracking the 25-item DDPSI across time in Japanese families; this extends Emma et al. by showing a different brief scale also holds up longitudinally.
Kelly et al. (2022) shrank measurement to a 5-item Parental Adjustment Scale; their ultra-brief survey and Emma’s 31-item QRS-F both pass psychometric tests, giving clinicians trade-off options between speed and detail.
Why it matters
You now have choices: use the sturdy QRS-F when you want a full stress picture, or grab a 5-item scale for a quick screen. Either way, you can back your parent-support plans with numbers that have been checked and re-checked across years and countries.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The Questionnaire on Resources and Stress (Friedrich, short form: QRS-F) has been used widely with parents of children with disabilities. However, its psychometric properties in parents of young children with autism have not been established. Here, 174 mothers and 43 fathers of children under 6 years with autism spectrum disorder were studied by two independent research teams. Each parent completed a 31-item version of the QRS-F. Factor analysis of the mothers' scores on these items failed to identify an expected two- or three-factor structure. Thus, the properties of a total stress score were explored. Analyses revealed evidence of good reliability, and expected associations with social support, coping and autism severity. These analyses lend preliminary support to the convergent validity of the scale. Overall, the data support the use of a total stress score from the 31-item version of the QRS-F in research with parents of young children with autism.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2005 · doi:10.1177/1362361305053256