Development and Preliminary Psychometric Evaluation of the Malaysian Inclusive Parenting Scale

Abstract

Inclusive education requires families to sustain equitable participation and learning beyond school, yet culturally grounded measures of inclusive parenting remain limited. This study conducted a preliminary psychometric evaluation of the Malaysian Inclusive Parenting Scale (IPS-M) among 248 parents. The instrument represents four dimensions: inclusive attitudes toward children’s needs, emotional and social support, support for inclusive learning at home, and collaboration with teachers and the community. Data were screened in IBM SPSS Statistics 29, and the final reflective measurement model was evaluated in SmartPLS 4.1 using Cronbach’s alpha, composite reliability, average variance extracted, the Fornell-Larcker criterion, the heterotrait-monotrait ratio, and variance inflation factors. All constructs demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency and convergent validity. Fornell-Larcker results supported construct distinctiveness, although one HTMT value of 0.924 indicated unresolved overlap between emotional-social support and home-learning support. Overall, the findings provide preliminary construct-level psychometric evidence for the IPS-M as a culturally grounded, multidimensional measure for research on family-level inclusive practices in Malaysia.