Measurement Characteristics of the Inventory of Parent Experience Scales

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Abstract
Researchers and practitioners increasingly recognize the importance of ecologically valid family-focused assessment tools, especially given the mandates of P.L. 99--457. The present study investigated the measurement integrity of one possible tool, the Inventory of Parent Experiences (IPE) (Crnic & Greenberg, 1981). Subjects were both parents from 66 intact families, half of which included children with handicaps. The results were generally not supportive of an interpretation that subscale or subsubscale scores have requisite measurement characteristics. At best, these scales must be viewed as first-step efforts to begin the development of appropriate item pools and item classification systems. However, the results regarding the use of IPE total scores were more favorable and were also consistent with previous research.