Description

The Home-Based Family Involvement measure assesses the frequency with which caregivers engage in educational and cultural activities at home with their child. It includes items about helping with schoolwork or learning tasks, maintaining routines, and engaging in cultural practices like storytelling and reading together. Respondents indicate how often they do each activity using a 4-point scale from “Never” to “Always.” This measure has been adapted for use with both adults and youth, with the adult version including one additional item. The measure provides insight into home-based behaviors that support children’s learning, development, and cultural connection. Higher scores reflect more frequent involvement in supportive home routines and activities.

AI/AN Communities where the measure has been used

Communities in the northern Midwestern United States and Canada

Demographics of AI/AN participants where the scale has been used

Adult caregivers with children and youth aged 10-18

Notes on adaptations or modifications

  1. Reduced number of items (items selected from the home-based involvement subscale from the family involvement questionnaire)
  2. Minor language and sentence structure adaptations to items. For example,
    • Use of the word “homework”;
    • “I take my child places in the community to learn special things (i.e., zoo, museum)” was revised to “I take my child to special places in the community to learn about our culture”;
    • “I keep a regular morning and bedtime schedule for my child” was revised to “I keep my child on a regular schedule (for example, meal times, bedtime)”;
    • “I share stories with my child about when I was in school” was revised to “I tell stories to [child]”)
  3. Addition of item “I read books to [child]”
  4. Adapted response scale options in the 4-point Likert format (1 = rarely, 2 = sometimes, 3 = often, 4 = always) to 1 = never, 2 = rarely, 3 = sometimes, 4 = always, with a “don’t know/refuse to answer” option

Modality and administration

Self-report; this measure is administered via in-person/phone interviews or an online REDCap link is sent to the participant

Scoring

Responses are recorded on a 4-point Likert scale: Never, Rarely, Sometimes, and Always. Each response is assigned a numerical value ranging from 0 (Never) to 3 (Always). A “Don’t Know/Refuse to Answer” option is also available and coded as 99; these responses are treated as missing in scoring. Item scores are summed to produce a total score, with higher scores indicating greater levels of home-based family involvement.

Psychometric evidence

Fantuzzo et al. (2000)

Home-Based Family Involvement subscale has a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.85, indicating strong internal consistency.

Citation(s)

Fantuzzo, J., Tighe, E., & Childs, S. (2000). Family involvement questionnaire: A multivariate assessment of family participation in early childhood education. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92(2), 367–376. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-0663.92.2.367