Family Empowerment Scale (FES)

Abstract

The Family Empowerment Scale (FES) is a widely utilized psychometric instrument designed to measure the degree of empowerment experienced by families, particularly those whose children are receiving mental health or special education services, often due to severe emotional or developmental disabilities. Developed by Koren, DeChillo, and Friesen in 1992, the FES assesses empowerment across three distinct, yet interrelated, domains: Family, Service System, and Community/Political. This self-report measure helps service providers and researchers evaluate the effectiveness of interventions aimed at increasing parental competence, confidence, and advocacy skills within complex service environments.

Keywords

Family Empowerment Scale, FES, parental empowerment, emotional disabilities, service systems, child mental health, family-centered care, Likert scale, advocacy

Authors

Paul E. Koren, N. DeChillo, B. J. Friesen

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Family Empowerment Scale (FES) is to provide a standardized, quantifiable measure of a family’s sense of control, competence, and ability to influence outcomes related to their child’s care and development. It moves beyond simple measures of satisfaction to gauge the extent to which parents feel they possess the knowledge, skills, and confidence necessary to navigate complex systems and advocate for their children’s needs.

The scale is instrumental in evaluating the success of family-centered service delivery models. By assessing empowerment across specific dimensions, researchers can pinpoint where families feel most or least empowered, guiding targeted interventions. Ultimately, the FES supports the shift toward ensuring that families of children with emotional disabilities are recognized as collaborative partners rather than passive recipients of services.

Construct

The FES operationalizes the psychological concept of empowerment within the context of families facing chronic challenges related to their child’s health or behavior. Empowerment, in this context, is viewed as a multidimensional construct encompassing both intrapsychic feelings of control and behavioral actions aimed at influencing the environment.

The scale measures three primary dimensions of empowerment:

• Family Empowerment: This domain assesses the parent’s sense of competence, control, and mastery within the immediate family context, including their ability to manage family life, understand their child’s condition, and solve daily problems effectively.
• Service System Empowerment: This measures the family’s perceived ability to interact effectively with formal service providers and agencies (e.g., mental health clinics, special education programs). It focuses on negotiation, decision-making rights, and the ability to secure appropriate services.
• Community/Political Empowerment: This domain evaluates the family’s engagement in broader community and political activities aimed at improving services for all children, such as advocacy, influencing policy, and connecting with legislators.

Validity

The Family Empowerment Scale demonstrates strong evidence of construct validity, particularly through its robust correlation with other measures of competence and self-efficacy, while remaining distinct from measures of general social support or satisfaction. Early validation studies confirmed that the FES effectively discriminated between families who were actively involved in advocacy and those who were not.

Criterion validity has been supported by findings that scores on the FES, especially the Service System and Community/Political subscales, are positively associated with participation in service planning and lobbying efforts. The measurement model confirms that the three subscales are highly related yet conceptually distinct, reflecting the multifaceted nature of empowerment as experienced by parents navigating complex systems.

Reliability

The FES exhibits high levels of internal consistency across its full scale and subscales. Initial psychometric analyses reported high Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, often exceeding 0.80 for the total scale and maintaining acceptable levels (typically above 0.70) for the individual subscales (Family, Service System, and Community/Political). This indicates that the items within each factor reliably measure the same underlying construct.

Furthermore, the scale has demonstrated acceptable test-retest reliability over short intervals, suggesting that the measurement of empowerment is stable over time unless significant intervening events or interventions occur. These strong psychometric properties underscore the FES’s utility as a dependable research and clinical tool.

Factor Analysis

The structure of the Family Empowerment Scale was established through extensive exploratory factor analysis (EFA), which confirmed the presence of the three hypothesized factors: Family, Service System, and Community/Political. The three-factor model consistently accounts for a significant portion of the variance in scores, supporting the scale’s theoretical foundation.

The factor structure is robust and has been replicated across various samples of families with children facing different challenges, although the specific loading of certain items may vary slightly depending on cultural context or service system structure. This confirmed factor structure allows researchers to analyze empowerment at both a global (total score) and specific (subscale scores) level.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report questionnaire

Format: 34 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (“Not True at all”) to 5 (“Very True”).

Language Available: Primarily English; translations may exist in academic literature.

Population Group: Parents or primary caregivers of children with emotional, behavioral, or developmental disabilities who are receiving formal services.

Age Group: Applicable to parents/caregivers of children typically within school-age ranges (where formal service systems like special education are heavily utilized).

Population Details: Originally developed using data from families whose children had severe emotional disabilities and were involved with complex service systems.

Test Methodology: Total scores and subscale scores are calculated by summing the responses for the relevant items. Higher scores indicate a greater sense of empowerment.

Keywords

parental self-efficacy, family coping, special education advocacy, service coordination, mental health outcomes, scale development, measure validation

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in source content; requires external search.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified in source content.

Correspondence Address: Not specified in source content.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Family Empowerment Scale (FES) was initially published in 1992. It is generally considered a publicly available instrument for non-commercial research and clinical use, although users should always verify specific permission requirements with the original authors or publishing bodies.

Test Year: 1992

Reference’s

Koren, Paul E., DeChillo, N., and Friesen, B. J. (1992). Measuring Empowerment in Families Whose Children Have Emotional Disabilities: A Brief Questionnaire.

Koren, Paul E., DeChillo, N., and Friesen, B. J. (1992). Family Empowerment Scale. in: Families Fischer, Joel., Corcoran, Kevin J. (2007). Measures for Clinical Practice and research: A sourcebook. (4th ed.). NY. Oxford University Pr. Vol. 1, Page (s): 285-287.

The original PDF article describing the instrument, “Measuring Empowerment in Families,” can be downloaded here: https://www.pathwaysrtc.pdx.edu/pdf/pbMeasuringEmpowermentInFamilies.pdf

Additional resources and score sheets (some are PDF or DOC files) are available via the following links:

• http://www.magellanofwyoming.com/media/1303772/family_empowerment_tool__2_.pdf (PDF)
• http://www.pluk.org/centraldirectory/Clinical%20supervision/fes-score-sheet-rev.pdf (PDF)
• http://www.pluk.org/centraldirectory/Clinical%20supervision/FES.pdf (PDF)
• http://maine.gov/dhhs/ocfs/cbhs/provider/word/fes-scoresheet-rev.doc (DOC)

Items of the Family Empowerment Scale (FES)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. I feel that I have a right to approve all services my child receives

2. When problems arise with my child, I handle them pretty well.

3. I feel I can have a part in improving services for children in my community.

4. I feel confident in my ability to help my child grow and develop.

5. I know the steps to take when I am concerned my child is receiving poor services.

6. I make sure that professionals understand my opinions about what services my child needs.

7. I know what to do when problems arise with my child.

8. I get in touch with my legislators when important bills or issues concerning children are pending.

9. I feel my family life is under control

10. I understand how the service system for children is organized.

11. I am able to make good decisions about what services my child needs.

12. I am able to work with agencies and professionals to decide what services my child needs.

13. I make sure I stay in regular contact with professionals who are providing services to my child.

14. I have ideas about the ideal service system for children.

15. I help other families get the services they need.

16. I am able to get information to help me better understand my child.

17. I believe that other parents and I can have an influence on services for children.

18. My opinion is just as important as professionals’ opinions in deciding what services my child needs.

19. I tell professionals what I think about services being provided to my child.

20. I tell people in agencies and government how services for children can be improved.

21. I believe I can solve problems with my child when they happen.

22. I know how to get agency administrators or legislators to listen to me.

23. I know what services my child needs.

24. I know what the rights of parent and children are under the special education laws.

25. I feel that my knowledge and experience as a parent can be used to improve services for children and families.

26. When I need help with problems in my family, I am able to ask for help from others.

27. I make efforts to learn new ways to help my child grow and develop.

28. When necessary, I take the initiative in looking for services for my child and family.

29. When dealing with my child, I focus on the good things as well as the problems.

30. I have a good understanding of the services system that my child is involved in.

31. When faced with a problem involving my child, I decide what to do and then do it.

32. Professionals should ask me what services I want for my child.

33. I have a good understanding of my child’s disorders.

34. I feel I am a good parent.

Response Scale: 1=Not True at all, 2= Mostly not True, 3=Somewhat True, 4= Mostly True, 5= Very True

Subscale Item Groupings:

• Family: 2, 4, 7, 9, 16, 21, 26, 27, 29, 31, 33, 34
• Service System: 1, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 23, 28, 30, 32
• Community/Political: 3, 8, 10, 14, 15, 17, 20, 22, 24, 25