Parental self-efficacy and the management of childhood atopic eczema: development and testing of a new clinical outcome measure

Background: Effective parental management of childhood eczema requires education and support to reduce disease severity and improve child quality of life. Self-efficacy is a key factor influencing effective chronic disease management. There are no published scales to measure parental self-efficacy in managing childhood eczema. The Parental Self-Efficacy with Eczema Care Index (PASECI) was designed to measure parental self-efficacy in managing childhood eczema as a pre- and post-intervention tool in the evaluation of a structured Eczema Education Programme (EEP). Objective: To develop and test the validity, reliability and sensitivity of a new outcome measure (PASECI) designed to assess parental self-efficacy in managing their child’s eczema to determine pre and post changes in educational intervention evaluation studies. Methods: PASECI was developed from literature, expert consultation and piloting of a 40-item prototype. The final 29-item scale is arranged on 4 subscales. Parents of children with eczema aged 0-16 years (n=242) attending the EEP were assessed at 1 week pre-EEP and 4 weeks post-intervention. Cronbach α and factor analyses were undertaken. Results: PASECI has face, content and construct validity. It is reliable, with high item internal consistency (Cronbach α > 0.87 in all domains). Factor analysis revealed 4 viable domains. It was sensitive to change for post intervention measures using Sign tests (p<0.001). Conclusions: PASECI is a useful, valid, reliable and sensitive evaluative outcome measure of self-efficacy in parents managing childhood eczema.