Validating the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire as a Measure of Parent Perceptions of Autism Spectrum Disorder.
The IPQ-R-ASD parent form mostly measures illness beliefs, but its control items still need polish.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Stevens et al. (2018) tested a new parent form called the IPQ-R-ASD. It asks moms and dads how they view their child’s autism.
The team ran a factor check to see if the form’s seven parts group the way they should.
What they found
Five parts lined up as expected. Two parts about control looked fuzzy and bled together.
The form mostly works, but the control chunk needs a rewrite before you use it in clinic.
How this fits with other research
Murphy et al. (2014) and Tse et al. (2021) also built short checklists for autism, but they looked at social skills and daily living, not illness beliefs. All three papers show parent or teacher forms can be trimmed and still hold up.
Katz et al. (2018) tweaked a sleep form the same way S et al. tweaked the IPQ-R. Both used factor cuts to drop weak items and keep the strong ones.
Wang et al. (2022) went further and showed strong numbers for their Chinese empathy scales. Their tight stats hint that S et al. could push the IPQ-R-ASD again and maybe fix the weak control part.
Why it matters
If you want to know how parents see their child’s autism, the IPQ-R-ASD gives a quick map. Skip the control section for now, or re-word those items before you score them. Until a cleaner version lands, pair the form with a chat about what parents think they can change.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The illness perception questionnaire (IPQ) and its revision (IPQ-R) measure perceptions about health-related diagnoses and the influence of cognitions on coping. In this study, the factor structure of a version revised for use with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was investigated with a sample of parents (n = 361) whose children have ASD. Subsequently, multidimensional item response theory was used to evaluate item and subscale properties. Results indicated items from five of the seven IPQ-R-ASD scales loaded as expected, though subscales related to control were not distinct. Additionally, parents' response patterns were evaluated and discussed. Use of this measure in ASD-focused research may enhance understanding of how parents' cognitions of their child's ASD impacts treatment selection, treatment implementation, and overall family well-being.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2018 · doi:10.1007/s10803-017-3442-4