Authors:
Bettye M. Caldwell and Robert H. Bradley Publisher:
University of Arkansas
www.ualr.edu/~crtldept/home4.htm
(501) 565-7627
Cost:
Administration and scoring manual: $30
50 Infant and toddler scoring sheets: $9
A more in-depth manual was being prepared at the time of this
review.
Representativeness of Norming Sample:
None described. Languages:
English
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Type of Assessment:
Observation, supplemented by direct parent interview
Age Range and Administration Interval:
Infant and toddler inventory for birth to 3 years old. Other
inventories are available for children ages 3 to 15.
Personnel, Training, Administration, and Scoring Requirements:
Formal training is not required, but is recommended. It takes
between 45 and 90 minutes to administer the inventory.
Summary
Initial Material Cost: 1 (> $100)
Reliability: Internal reliability: 3 (.65 and higher), internal
consistency: 2 (mostly |.65)
Validity: 2 (|. 5 for concurrent), 3 (mostly .4 or higher
for predictive)
Norming Sample Characteristics: 1 (none described)
Administration and Scoring: 2 (administered by a highly trained
individual, scored by someone with basic clerical skills)
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Description:
The Home Observation for Measurement of the
Environment (HOME) is designed to measure the quality and
extent of stimulation available to a child in the home environment.
The HOME serves as a screening device for identifying environments
that are not stimulating to children. HOME has separate inventories
for infants and toddlers (birth to 3 years old), early childhood
(ages 3 to 6), and middle childhood (ages 6 to 10).
The infant and toddler inventory is comprised of 45
items organized into 6 subscales: (1) responsiveness to parent,
(2) avoidance of restriction and punishment, (3) organization
of the environment, (4) appropriate play materials, (5) parental
involvement, and (6) variety in daily stimulation. The items
were selected to provide information from the child’s
perspective on stimuli that have been found to affect children’s
cognitive development. The information is collected from observations,
supplemented by parent interview, during home visits that
are scheduled when the child is awake and engaged in activities
typical for that time of the day. A Supplement to the HOME
for Impoverished Families (SHIF) has been developed to better
assess the quality of the home environments of young children
living in poor urban homes. The 20-item SHIF takes approximately
8 minutes to score and uses the same scoring procedures as
the HOME. The SHIF should be used in conjunction with the
total HOME rather than as an independent assessment.
Uses of Information: The HOME inventory is intended to identify
environments that do not stimulate the cognitive development
of children and to assist in the development of interventions
that benefit both the caregiver and the child.
Reliability: (1) Internal consistency reliability: Cronbach’s
alphas were .84 for the HOME inventory and ranged from .49
to .78 for the its 6 subscales;
Kuder-Richardson coefficients were .89 for the inventory and
ranged from .44 to .89 for the subscales; On a non-representative
sample of poor urban families, .80 and .63 Kuder-Richardson
coefficients were obtained for the HOME and SHIF, respectively.
(2) Test-retest reliability: Pearson correlation coefficients
were .62 for the inventory and ranged from .29 to .62 for
the subscales administered to children at ages 6 and 12 months;
.64 for the inventory and ranged from .27 to .64 when administered
at ages 6 and 24 months; and .77 for the inventory and ranged
from .30 to .77 when administered at ages 12 and 24 months.
The intraclass correlation, which measures stability by comparing
the similarity of paired scores relative to the total variation
of all scores, resulted in slightly lower values. The intra-class
correlation coefficients were .57 for the inventory and ranged
from .23 to .57 for the sub-scales when administered at ages
6 and 12 months, .58 for the inventory and ranged from .25
to .58 for the subscales at ages 6 and 24 months, and .76
for the inventory and .30 to .76 at ages 12 and 24 months.
Because HOME scores rose over time, the authors considered
the lower intraclass coefficients to be a more accurate reliability
measure. (3) Inter-rater reliability: The kappa statistics
for inter-rater reliability ranged from .76 to 1.0 for the
HOME and .79 to 1.0 for the SHIF.
Validity: Concurrent and Predictive:
Families’ HOME inventory scores administered when the
child was 6, 12, and 24 months old were compared to the child’s
scores on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development Mental Development
Index (MDI) at 6 and 12 months, the Stanford-Binet at 36 and
54 months, and the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities
(ITPA) at 37 months. HOME was found to be a better predictor
of intelligence than socio-economic measures and was a stronger
predictor for females and whites. (1) Comparison with the
Bayley MDI: The correlations between the HOME inventory score
at 6 months and the Bayley MDI at 6 and 12 months were .14
and .16 (subscale correlations ranged from .01 to .27), respectively.
The correlation between the HOME at 12 months and the Bayley
MDI score at 12 months was .30 (subscales ranged from .01
to .28). (2) Comparison with the Sanford-Binet: The correlations
between the HOME inventory score at 6 months and the Stanford-Binet
at 36 and 54 months were .50 (subscales ranged from .24 to
.41) and .44 (sub-scales ranged from .10 to .44), respectively.
The correlation between the HOME at 12 months and the Stanford-Binet
at 36 months was .58 (sub-scales ranged from .24 to .56),
respectively. The correlations between the HOME at 24 months
and the Stanford-Binet at 36 and 54 months were .71 (subscales
ranged from .41 to .64) and .57 (subscales ranged from .28
to .56), respectively. (3) Comparison with the ITPA: The correlations
between the HOME inventory scores at 6 and 24 months and the
total ITPA score at 37 months were .39 and .61, respectively.
(4) Comparison with SHIF: The Pearson correlation between
the HOME and the SHIF was .69. (5) Comparison with the Nursing
Child Assessment Feeding Scale (NCAFS) and the Nursing Child
Assessment Teaching Scale(NCATS): In a non-representative
sample of impoverished urban families, the Pearson correlation
coefficients were .55 and .42 between the HOME and the NCAFS
and NCATS, respectively, and .49 and .36 between the SHIF
and the NCAFS and the NCATS.
Method of Scoring: The home visitor/interviewer enters a
plus (+) for each item if the behavior is observed or reported
and a minus (-) if it is not. Subscale and total inventory
scores are derived by counting the number of pluses.
Interpretability: The summary sheet provides the scores that
fall in the lowest quartile, the middle half, and the upper
quartile. Homes with scores in the lowest quartile are considered
to be environments at increased-risk. However, the authors
also recommend that the interviewer collect other information
on the child and the family to provide a context for interpreting
the HOME scores. In addition, the interviewer should pay attention
to patterns across the subscales since these patterns may
provide information that can be used in developing and structuring
the intervention. No information was provided on interpreting
SHIF scores. However, on the sample of poor urban families,
the mean SHIF score was 15.5 with a standard deviation of
2.8.
Training Support: Workshops are offered by the authors and
other trainers and videotapes of a skilled visitor are available.
Information on the workshop and the videotapes are available
from the authors.
Adaptations/Special Instructions for Individuals with Disabilities:
The manual discusses circumstances under which it may be appropriate
to use the standard version of the HOME to best describe the
family environment of a child with disabilities. However,
there is also a special form for families of children with
disabilities, which will be discussed in the manual that is
currently being written.
Report Preparation Support: A summary sheet for recording
background information on the family and subscale and total
inventory scores is available. References:
Caldwell, Bettye M., and Robert H. Bradley. Home Inventory
Administration Manual, Third Edition, 2001. Little Rock, AR:
University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2001.
Caldwell, Bettye M., and Robert H. Bradley. Psychometric
Characteristics. Unpublished manuscript.
Ertem, Ilgi Ozturk, Brian William Cameron Forsyth, Abraham
Joseph Avni-Singer, Lisa Kendall Damour, and Dominic V. Cicchetti.
“Development of a Supplement to the HOME Scale for Children
Living in Impoverished Urban Environments.” Developmental
and Behavioral Pediatrics, vol. 18, no.5, October 1997, pp.
322-328.
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