The scale was a modification of that described by Forsyth and Canny (1985). It differs with:
(1) adding some additional questions (from 12 to 15)
(2) eliminating a neutral response ("neither true nor false") from the options
The parent is asked about how s/he feel about their child.
Questions (modified from Figure 2, page 240) - 15 items
Responses are definitely true, mostly true, mostly false or definitely false.
Negatively directed questions (true indicates poor health perception, false good): 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.
Positively directed questions (true indicates good health perception, false poor): 5, 9
|
Response
|
Points for Positively Directed Statements
|
Points for Negatively Directed Statements
|
|
definitely true
|
4
|
1
|
|
mostly true
|
3
|
2
|
|
mostly false
|
2
|
3
|
|
definitely false
|
1
|
4
|
where:
• The precise points for the responses are not given in the paper. The options are to score from 0 to 3 vs from 1 to 4. The use of 0 to 3 is easier to use. To get the scores shown in the reference, a range of 1 to 4 seems to have been used.
total score =
= SUM(points for all 15 items)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: 15
• maximum score: 60
• A low indicates a greater sense of vulnerability, while a high score indicates a lesser sense of vulnerability.
Limitations:
• The results given on page 241 indicates that the mean score for premature infants (vulnerable child) was only 3.5 points from that for the reference population.
