Developing a family need scale

The aim of this study was to develop a family need scale for Iranian families. The study was administered in two stages. In the pilot study, 50 families were interviewed to list their needs. A 45-item scale was designed based on the pilot study data. The scale was completed by 250 families in the second stage (the main stage). In addition, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Psychology of Happiness Scale, Family Content Scale and Coping Stress Styles Scale were used. A principle factor analysis was used to check the factor structure of the family. The alpha coefficient and test-retest reliability were used to check the internal consistency and reliability of the scale. The results revealed seven factors in the scale, including economic need, kindness need, social security need, first welfare need, educational need, second welfare need, and psychological need. In addition, the reliability for the questionnaire was found to be 0.89 using alpha coefficient and 0.96 using retest. The results of the alpha coefficient and test-retest showed that the family needs scale was a reliable scale to assess family needs and that it had high convergent validity. The family needs scale was efficient, reliable, and valid to use in Iranian families.