Development of a Measure of Family-Provider Relationship Quality (FPRQ), 2010-2014
Project Overview
The goal of the FPRQ project is to develop a new measure to assess the quality of the relationship between families and providers of early care and education for children birth to 5 years of age. The measure will examine this relationship from both the parent and the provider perspectives, and capture important elements of family-provider relationships such as attitudes of respect, commitment, and openness to change and practices such as bi-directional communication, sensitivity, and flexibility. The project aims to develop a measure that is appropriate for use across different types of early care and education settings, including Head Start and Early Head Start programs, center-based child care, pre-k classrooms, and home-based child care. In addition, a high priority of the project is to make the new measure culturally appropriate for diverse populations, including lower-income and higher-income families, ethnically/racially diverse providers and families, and non-English speaking families and providers.
Tasks for the FPRQ project include (1) reviewing literature on family-provider relationships; (2) developing a conceptual model of the key components of family-provider relationships that promote family engagement and lead to better family, child and provider outcomes; (3) reviewing existing measures; (4) consulting with experts in relevant fields on possible content and format of the measure; (5) holding focus groups with parents and providers, developing items, and piloting the measure; (6) development of a final measure for extensive data collection in a variety of care settings; (7) psychometric and cognitive testing to ensure the soundness of the measure; and (8) the development of a sustainability plan regarding training on the measure and production of future editions of the measure as needed.
The point of contact is Nancy Geyelin Margie.
Project Team
Project Monitor:
Nancy Geyelin Margie
Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation
Administration for Children and Families
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
370 L'Enfant Promenade SW, 7th Floor
Washington, DC 20447
Contractors:
Christine Winquist Nord, Ph.D., Project Director, Westat
Nicole Forry, Ph.D., Child Trends
Lina Guzman, Ph.D., Child Trends
