Study: Catalight's Family Wellbeing Scale Works Across Cultures for Families of People with Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities

WALNUT CREEK, Calif., Sept. 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A recently released peer-reviewed study found that the Catalight Family Wellbeing Scale – a tool developed by researchers at the Catalight Research Institute to measure the quality of life over time of families raising children with developmental disabilities – performs reliably when translated and adapted for use with Turkish families. Since its release, the scale has been used to help clinicians and researchers understand not just how an autistic or developmentally disabled child is doing, but how the whole family unit is coping, adapting and functioning together.

"At Catalight, we believe that the wellbeing of the individual and their family is the true measure of treatment success," said Lindsey Sneed, Ph.D., BCBA, Catalight's vice president of clinical excellence and a co-developer of the scale. "The Family Wellbeing Scale provides an objective measure of the overall health and happiness of families raising children with developmental disabilities."

The scale, a 15-item questionnaire, measures physical, emotional, social and mental health. By considering a broad range of factors, it seeks to provide a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of family wellbeing. The scale has undergone rigorous statistical analysis in the United States to ensure its reliability and effectiveness. For the current study, researchers at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University and two departments within Bartin University translated the scale into Turkish before testing it with more than 300 primary caregivers – mostly mothers and fathers of children and young adults with autism spectrum disorder or other intellectual or developmental disabilities – from schools across Türkiye.

"Going in, we weren't sure if there would be language barriers, differences in family or community dynamics or different cultural ideas about what wellbeing is. There were a number of factors," said Dr. Sneed. "So we're certainly pleased that this new research demonstrates the scale can also be used effectively in a different culture and language."

The results of the research paper closely mirrored the scale's original U.S. validation:

• The scale captured the same three key areas of family life. Researchers confirmed that the tool's three categories – family relationships, family management, and family determination – held together as distinct, meaningful groupings in the Turkish sample, just as they did in the original U.S. version.
• The scale gave consistent, dependable results. Individual questions within each category were found to provide consistent answers with scores that ranged from acceptably reliable to excellent.
• Mothers' and fathers' scores could be fairly compared to one another. Researchers tested whether the scale worked the same way regardless of who filled it out, and confirmed that a given score was equivalent regardless of which parent it came from.
• Scores were strongly linked to established quality-of-life measures. Families who scored higher on the Family Wellbeing Scale also tended to score higher on outside measures of family quality of life and lower on measures of depression, anxiety and stress.

The Catalight Family Wellbeing Scale, along with the similar Adult Wellbeing and Youth Wellbeing Scales, are available to outside agencies. Information on all three wellbeing scores and how others may utilize them is available here.

The peer-reviewed study, "Assessing the Reliability and Validity of the Catalight Family Wellbeing Scale in a Turkish Sample," was published in Family Relations and co-authored by Türkiye researchers Sedat Turgut, Esra Sözer Boz, Mahir Uğurlu, along with Catalight's Senior Research and Data Analyst Ben Pfingston.

Catalight is translating its Wellbeing Scale into more languages so that it can be used as widely as possible. Sabri Hergüner of Istanbul University is also working on validating Catalight's Parental Stress Scale for families with children who are intellectually or developmentally disabled.

About Catalight

The Catalight Group breaks down barriers and biases within health systems through timely, equitable and precise access to care. The nonprofit provides access to innovative, individualized care services, clinical research and advocacy — all powered by intelligent technology. Through the work of affiliate partners, Easterseals Hawaii and Easterseals Northern California, The Catalight Group is radically transforming the autism and intellectual and developmental disability journey by prioritizing wellbeing through value-based care.

The Catalight Group is one of the largest behavioral health networks in the nation, with 15,000 practitioners serving more than 25,000 clients and families annually. Backed by more than a decade of experience and a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, the organization is reimagining the way people with developmental disabilities and their families experience healthcare.

SOURCE Catalight Foundation, a California non-profit corporation