Andrea Louis

The Development of the Macro (Mother and Child Risk Observation) Forms: Evaluation of Parenting Practices, Child Characteristics and Parental Mental Illness As Indicators of Risk to Parent and Child Andrea Louis

The MACRO (Mother and Child Risk Observation) Forms 1 (under 1 year) and 2 (1 to 5 years) were developed and psychometrically evaluated after an extensive literature review in the areas of parenting, child development and parental mental illness. The model of development assumes an interactive process where the characteristics of both the parent and child contribute to outcome. It also assumes there are both beneficial and detrimental ways to parent; that children possess degrees of resilience and ease-of- care for parents; and, different stages of mental illness have varying effects on parenting ability. Together these factors form an index of risk to parent and child as measured by the MACRO forms. The MACRO forms seek to offer an objective method for mapping these factors over time and ultimately assist in recommendations, made by professionals, which affect the lives of the parent and child.