Journal of Nursing Measurement. Volume 12. Number 3, Winter 2004 Psychometric Testing and Refinement of the Support Needs Inventory for Parents of Asthmatic Children Christine Toye Linda J. Kristjanson Edith Cowan University Churchlands, Australia Mardhie E. Coleman Murdoch University Mandurah, Australia Hendrika Maltby Edith Cowan University Churchlands, Australia, and University of Vermont Burlington, VT Glenda Jackson Edith Cowan University Joondalup, Australia This study refined the Support Needs Inventory for Parents of Asthmatic Children (SNI- PAC) (Coleman, Maltby, Kristjanson, & Robinson, 2001) to produce a more parsimonious tool to assess the importance and meet the support needs of parents of children with asth- ma. The original tool was completed by 145 parents of 199 children with asthma, and 74 of these also provided test-retest responses. Internal consistency reliability, construct validity, and stability over time were assessed and refinements were made. Internal con- sistency reliability of the revised 20-item tool ranged from .77 to .95 for the three subscales of the Parent's Priority Scale (PPS), and .92 for the full PPS. Cronbach's alphas ranged from .74 to .90 for the three subscales of the Parent's Fulfillment Scale (PFS) and was .91 for the full scale. Factor analysis results of the PPS were compatible with the tool's con- ceptual framework. The revised 20-item tool demonstrated adequate psychometric proper- ties in most areas. This tool may be used for research or clinical screening without imposing undue burden on parents. Further work is required to establish the tool's stability over time. Keywords: assessment tool; asthma; parents; reliability; support; validity A sthma is a complex disease process involving biochemical, immune, infectious, endocrine, and psychological factors (Anderson, Anderson, & Glanze, 1994). It is an episodic, reversible, obstructive airway disease that results in smooth muscle contraction of the airways, characterized by mucous hyper-secretion, mucosal edema, cell infiltration, and epithelial desquamation (National Asthma Campaign, 1993). However, asthma is a phenomenon that is more complex than its medical definition suggests. As is © 2004 Springer Publishing Company 179