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Abstract
Background Knowledge about family support systems available for Jordanian families of children with cerebral palsy (CP) is limited due to the lack of culturally valid measures of family support. The psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the Family Support Scale (A-FSS) were examined.
Methods Parents of 115 children with CP who were receiving services at different settings in Jordan were interviewed using the A-FSS.
Results Spouse and professional helpers were rated as the most helpful sources of support, whereas early childhood intervention programs and social groups were the least helpful. A valid structure of the A-FSS was presented for Jordanian families of children with CP with an acceptable level of internal consistency.
Conclusions The A-FSS is a valid and reliable measure of family support for Jordanian families of children with CP. Service providers are encouraged to use A-FSS with families to explore options for using sources of support to cope with their children's disability.
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the generous contribution of families of children and youth with cerebral palsy who were an important part of this research team, and Tamara Jalajel, PT, Ishraq Alshishani, PT, Fatemah Fanoon, PT, and Abeer Adayleh, PT, who participated in the data collection and data entry of the project. This project was funded by a 2-year grant from the Deanship of Academic Research at The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
Conflicts of interest: None.
Notes
† This manuscript was accepted under the Editorship of Ian Dempsey.