Parental sense of competence is one of the central dimensions targeted on psychosocial
interventions aimed at supporting at-risk families. Researchers and practitioners need
reliable instruments to assess the parental role adapted for these families. Although the
Parental Sense of Competence (PSOC) scale has been frequently used to assess this
construct, there is still no adapted version for Portuguese parents. In this study, the
reliability, validity, and factor structure of the PSOC scale is examined with a clinical
sample of 146 mothers from at-risk families receiving psychosocial interventions for
family preservation from Child Protective Services. Results show that the Portuguese
version of the PSOC measures three distinct constructs with acceptable psychometric
properties: Efficacy, dissatisfaction, and controllability. As expected, the obtained
factors were significantly and positively related to parenting alliance and family
cohesion, and negatively associated with parenting stress. In sum, the proposed
Portuguese version shows reliability and validity evidences to measure three relevant
dimensions of parental self-evaluation, and it constitutes a cost- and time-effective
instrument suited for at-risk mothers.Junta de Andalucí