Brief report: Development of a brief scale to assess family support function among Chinese high school students

Purpose: To develop a brief family support function scale for Chinese high school students (FSFS-CHSS). Methods: Standard procedures for scale development (identification of conceptual model, literature review, item selection and modification using consumer and expert panels and item reduction techniques) were used to develop a 17-item scale. Families of students in 96 high school classes in Hunan were used for item selection and validation. A subset of 4 out of 96 classes was selected as a test–retest sample. Results: A brief CHSS-FSFS with 17 items was found to have good test–retest and internal consistency reliability (Pearson correlation coefficient: 0.89, P<0.05; Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.87). Three factors were extracted using factor analysis, accounting for 48% of total variation. Comparison of CHSS-FSFS score between healthy and unhealthy families was statistically significant, t=7.58, P<0.01. Conclusions: CHSS-FSFS is a reliable and valid tool for family support function assessment.