[Assessing risk exposure in families within the scope of early intervention: the Heidelberg Stress scale (HBS) and its quality criteria].

The aim of the study presented is to introduce the newly developed instrument to assess stress, the Heidelberg Stress Scale (Heidelberger Belastungsskala--HBS), and to examine its psychometric characteristics. The HBS was developed for a low-threshold and multi-professional assessment of a family's stresses and resources after the birth of a child. The HBS can be used in the outreach work of family midwives, for instance, as well as in research. The validity of the HBS was tested in a sample of 284 psychosocially stressed families after the birth of their child; the inter-rater reliability was tested in a sample of 41 families that were also in stress. The HBS exhibits an excellent inter-rater reliability within a homogeneous professional group (psychology students). As relates to the construct validity, a strong positive connection between the HBS and Kindler's screening sheet was found; the HBS exhibits a negative correlation with maternal sensitivity and a positive correlation with maternal stress level. With a high level of stress in the HBS, the risk of taking the child into care is increased by 4.5 times; the sensitivity amounts to 63.6%. The quality criteria are satisfactory.