THE PSYCHOMETRIC QUALITIES OF FOCCUS

FOCCUS was developed in 1984-85 through the Family Life Office in Omaha, Nebraska. Three experienced marriage and family counselors authored the instrument: B. Markey, Ph.D., M. Micheletto, M.A. and A. Becker, A.C.S.W. Working through University College Division of Creighton University in Omaha, Dr. Markey developed scoring and training programs for the use of FOCCUS.

A firm independent of both the authors and Creighton University was contracted to conduct the internal analysis of FOCCUS. The purpose of the analysis was to provide evidence, or lack thereof, of the Construct Validity of the instrument. SRI Research Center, Inc. of Lincoln, Nebraska conducted the analysis. In the 1990’s, SRI became a unit of the Gallup Organization.

The March, 1985 internal analysis of FOCCUS was based on 222 protocols. Item discrimination or variability across respondents was especially important to establish since FOCCUS was designed to facilitate maximum couple discussion on key topics. Only items with a variance of 10% or more were retained in the final instrument. Item 95 as retained as an exception because of clinical considerations. Most items retained in the instrument had significantly more than 10% variance, indicating that they could elicit a high degree of couple discussion.

Standard deviations provided a standardized index of the amount of item variability. Squaring the standard deviation provided an item variance index. Each item was correlated with the overall scale measure and adjusted for part/whole overlap. Inferential analysis completed was based on the Pearson Product Moment Coefficient of Correlation.

The Internal Consistency of the three original subscales (Basic Instrument, Interfaith Marriages and Second Marriages) was estimated using the Kuder Richardson Formula 21 procedure. The reliability was established to be .86 for the Basic instrument, .98 for Interfaith Marriages section, .94 for Second Marriages section. Reliability coefficients of .75 or greater were reported by SRI to be acceptable. The reliability estimates for FOCCUS were markedly in excess of the guideline coefficient. (“An Internal Analysis of the FOCCUS Attitude Scale “, March, 1985, Prepared by SRI Research Center, Inc. Lincoln, Nebraska)

In 1991, two independent researchers from the Department of Family Studies at Purdue University undertook a study of the Predictive Validity of FOCCUS. 410 engaged couples who took FOCCUS in 1985 were contacted five years later to see if their scores successfully predicted future marital success. The researchers contacted these couples through their parents. 378 parents (88%) responded, providing the current addresses of their children. Of this group, 333 couples participated in the research.

The Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) by Spanier (1976) was chosen to measure marital quality five years after the couples took FOCCUS as part of their marriage preparation. Results indicate that the classification rates for FOCCUS in terms of predicting high versus low quality relationships are between 80% and 82%. (Williams, Lee; Jurich, Joan. “Predicting Marital Success After Five Years,• Assessing the Predictive Validity of FOCC US”, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy 21, (1995) 14 1-153.) The categories of FOCCUS items with the highest predictive value are Problem Solving and Personality Match. The predictive validity of FOCCUS was reported by Williams and Jurich to be comparable to or higher than other commonly-used marriage preparation inventories.

In June, 1996, The Gallup Organization through the unit formerly known as SRI Research Center, Inc. conducted internal analysis on the newly developed Cohabiting Couples subscale of FOCCUS. They followed the same procedures used in the 1985 analysis of FOCCUS Construct Validity. Items were retained or deleted on the basis of item descriptive statistics, item subscale correlation (discrimination) and KR-20 Reliability. A reliability coefficient of .79 was reported for the Cohabiting Couples subscale. (“An Internal Analysis of a Cohabitation Subscale to the FOCCUS Attitude Scale, June, 1996, The Gallup Organization, Lincoln, Nebraska).

In 2000, revisions were made in three scales: Religion and Values, Marriage Covenant, and Interfaith Marriages. Changes were directed to strengthening the questions in these areas based on national research done in the previous five years. An internal analysis of these scales was conducted by the Gallup Organization. Construct Validity was establish. KR-210 Reliability was .88 for males and .83 for females.