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Abstract
Because of the well-documented role caregiving plays in child development and socialization, family service programs commonly aim to improve parenting. Despite the common emphasis on parenting behavior, few programs regularly assess it, because existing observational tools, designed primarily for research purposes, prove too cumbersome for use in a family services setting. The Keys to Interactive Parenting Scale (KIPS) was designed to fill the need for a convenient observational assessment of parenting behavior in the family services setting. Developed through three stages involving literature review, psychometric testing, and practitioner feed- back, KIPS demonstrates reliability and validity. A field test with home visitors from Early Head Start and Parents As Teachers programs showed that providers could reliably use the scale with the families they served and highly valued the information obtained. KIPS provides a practical means of assessing parenting behavior, and can be used to guide intervention, coordinate teamwork, and evaluate program outcomes.
