Investigating psychometric properties of Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ)

Reflective function is one of the important and new areas in the development and pathology of children. This study aimed to determine the reliability and validity and reliability of the parental reflective functioning questionnaire in children.

The cases of this study conducted in Mashhad city (the second populous city in Iran) included 300 children aged 3-5 years (150 children with asthma and 150 healthy children). The children with asthma were selected through convenience sampling method from Akbar pediatric hospital and personal office in Mashhad city, and the healthy children selected through multistage cluster sampling from kindergartens of Mashhad in 2019. Mothers completed a parental reflective functioning questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed with Cronbach's alpha coefficient, and its validity with content validity and construct validity method (confirmatory factor analysis).

The reliability coefficient of the questionnaire based on Cronbach’s alpha indicated desirable reliability for the whole scale and all three factors (α=0.60). The results of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) indicated three factors, totally defining 60 percent of the total variance. Also, confirmatory factor analysis indicated acceptable fitness in the determination of factors with new items. These factors were called pre-metallization, certainty about the mental states, and curiosity in the mental states in conformity with the main study.

It seems that the parental reflective functioning questionnaire is an useful questionnaire that has a desirable validity and reliability for measuring parental reflective function in Iranian population.