Environmental Screening Questionnaire (ESQ)

Mother with young child

An environmental screener to better support families.

Get a fuller picture of each family’s strengths and needs—and guide your decision-making about next steps—with the Environmental Screening Questionnaire (ESQ™), the newest tool from the developers of the renowned ASQ® screeners.

Overview

Guide decision-making with a fuller picture of each family’s strengths and needs.

The free Environmental Screening Questionnaire (ESQ™) is a quick, parent-completed screening tool that gathers vital information about the home environments of children from ages birth through 6. Questions across 6 areas—Education & Employment, Housing, Child & Family Health, Economics & Finances, Family Life, and Community—help professionals better support families at risk. When used in tandem with ASQ, the ESQ screener gives you a more accurate, balanced picture of each child’s developmental status, risk and protective factors, and overall well being.

BENEFITS

  • Highlights a family’s strengths and protective factors
  • Identifies risk factors that might affect a parent’s ability to support healthy child development
  • Helps you determine what types of resources and referrals a family might need
  • Provides an easy way to monitor outcomes for children and families
  • Meets recommendations for social determinants of health screening by the American Academy of Pediatrics*

*Does not imply endorsement by the AAP

ESQ logo

Product Details

The Environmental Screening Questionnaire (ESQ™), Research Edition is available for FREE at the Brookes Publishing website.

What’s included: PDF Guide, plus master forms in English and Spanish

ESQ, Research Edition

FREE • Stock Number: 554456 • 2020 • ISBN 978-1-68125-445-6

ESQ product

How It Works

ESQ: How it works.

After you download your free copy of ESQ, give parents the quick and easy screener to complete. In about 10–15 minutes, they’ll answer questions in six key areas:

  • Education and Employment
  • Child and Family Health
  • Economics and Finances
  • Housing
  • Family Life
  • Community

After scoring the ESQ in just 2–3 minutes, discuss results with the family and plan follow-up steps using the ESQ Referral Summary. If the score is high, follow up with support and additional resources and ask the family to fill out ESQ again in 6 months. If the score is lower, the family may not need additional support unless a caregiver has indicated a concern.

At a Glance

What is it?

A quick, parent-completed screening tool that gathers important information about the home environments of children and helps guide decision-making about referral options.

Who are the developers?

ESQ was developed by Jane Squires, Ph.D., and Diane Bricker, Ph.D., the developers of Ages & Stages Questionnaires, Third Edition (ASQ-3) and Ages & Stages Questionnaires: Social-Emotional, Second Edition (ASQ:SE-2) screeners with assistance from Misti Waddell, Ph.D., Kristin Funk, M.A., LCSW, and Kathleen Moxley-South, Ph.D., BC-HSP

What age range does it cover?

Birth through age 6

What areas does it cover?

ESQ gathers information in six key areas: Education and Employment, Housing, Child and Family Health, Economics and Finances, Family Life, and Community

Who completes it?

Parents or caregivers

Who scores it and uses results?

Home visitors, parent educators, early interventionists, Head Start and Early Head Start professionals, social workers, pediatricians

How can the results be used?

ESQ identifies risk and protective factors in a child’s environment. This information helps professionals consider families’ needs, organize referral information, and monitor outcomes for families.

How many questions are included?

30 questions

How long does it take?

ESQ takes 10–15 minutes to complete by interview or independently with follow-up discussion. Scoring takes 2–3 minutes.

What languages are available?

ESQ and the Referral Summary are available in English and Spanish.

 

  • Children with Hands in the Air

    What ASQ Users are Saying

    “I like the ASQ:SE, which is an easy non-threatening tool to use to assess important social-emotional developmental milestones of the baby…. This tool lends itself well to developing educational activities to foster a healthy parenting relationship.”

    Cynthia Suire, MSN, RN, Nurse–Family Partnership Program Louisiana Office of Public Health