Adult Responses to Children’s Symptoms – Parent Form (ARCS)
Measures parental behavioral responses to their children's abdominal pain and somatic symptoms.
Scale Development & Technical Details
Scale Overview
The Adult Responses to Children’s Symptoms – Parent Form (ARCS) was developed by Van Slyke, D.A., & Walker, L.S. (2006). It is designed to measure Parental responses to child pain. The scale is intended for use with Parents of children with chronic or recurrent abdominal pain.
Scale Structure
This instrument consists of 29 items organized into 3 factors/subscales: Protect, Minimize, Monitor.
| Factor / Subscale | Items | N |
|---|---|---|
| Protect | 3,5,7,8,11,13,15,16,17,19,20,22,23,25,29 | 15 |
| Minimize | 2,9,14,18,21,27 | 6 |
| Monitor | 1,4,6,10,12,24,26,28 | 8 |
Response Format
Respondents rate each item using a custom response format.
Response anchors: 0 = Never, 1 = Once in a While, 2 = Sometimes, 3 = Often, 4 = Always.
Scoring
Items are scored by subscale, with each subscale sum representing a distinct dimension.
Total scores range from 0 to 116. Interpretation guidelines:
- Low frequency of pain-response behaviors: 0 – 29
- Moderate frequency of pain-response behaviors: 30 – 58
- High frequency of pain-response behaviors: 59 – 116
Psychometric Properties
Internal Consistency: The scale has demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency with reported Cronbach’s alpha values of Not specified.
Administration
The scale is self-administered and typically takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. It can be administered individually or in group settings. No special training is required for administration.