Introduction: Parenting is a significant, complex, and demanding occupation in adulthood, that most adults undertake during their lifetime, and many define themselves through their parenting. Studies show that several populations are more at risk to experience challenges in fulfilling their parental role, such as parents with disabilities. Despite its importance, there is a lack of comprehensive tools to assess parenting
Objective: 1. To develop an assessment tool, the Profile of Parenting Occupation (PRO-PARENT), that captures both subjective experiences and objective elements of Parenting. 2. Establish reliability and validity of the PRO-PARENT
Methods: The PRO-PARENT includes 41 items that encompass the parenting occupation, with four scales that include performance and occupational experiences. Content and face validity were determined by a panel of experts and a group of parents. The internal consistency, convergent validity and known-groups validity were examined in a sample of 181 parents, 58 of whom had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Results: The relevance and comprehensibility of the items were found sufficient, with modifications as required. Internal consistency was high across all scales. Significant correlations were found between the PRO-PARENT scales and measures of quality of life and parental stress. Significant differences were observed between parents with and without ADHD on almost all scales except for the Effort scale, where only certain items demonstrated significant differences
Conclusions: the PRO-PARENT appears to be a reliable and valid measure for assessing parenting as an occupation. It holds potential for both research and clinical applications