Developing a Tool for Measuring Parent Knowledge and Barriers to Supportive School Integration After Diagnosis of Childhood Cancer

Abstract

Background: Children treated for cancer are at risk for long-term neurocognitive late effects that can impact school attainment, employment, and quality of life. Obtaining formal education support can be critical to later success but may depend upon parent knowledge and ability to access needed support. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a scale to measure the perceived support that parents received upon their child's return to school during or after cancer treatment. Methods: Exploratory factor analyses evaluated the construct validity of survey items. Cronbach's alpha was used to test the internal consistency and independent t-tests evaluated the concurrent criterion validity of resulting subscales. Results: The exploratory factor analyses resulted in two subscales, Barriers to Supportive School Integration (13 items) and Parent School Integration Knowledge (three items). All items loaded at least 0.49 onto each factor, with Cronbach's alpha values of 0.927 and 0.738, respectively. The Knowledge subscale additionally demonstrated concurrent criterion validity; higher Knowledge subscale scores were found among parents who reported receiving information about treatment-related cognitive/school problems from healthcare providers (p < .001). Discussion: The Parent School Integration Knowledge and Barriers to Supportive School Integration subscales demonstrated preliminary evidence for good construct validity and internal consistency. These subscales may be used in future research to assess parent knowledge, barriers to receiving support, and overall experience of supportive school integration after the diagnosis of pediatric cancer.