Psychometric evaluation of the caring ability of the family caregivers of the patients in need of palliative care scale (CAFCPNPCS): A methodological study

Abstract

Background & Aim: Since family caregivers play an important role in providing care for patients in need of palliative care, it is important to focus on and examine their care ability in fulfilling the expected roles. Therefore, this study aimed to perform a psychometric evaluation of the Caring Ability of the Family Caregivers of the Patients in Need of Palliative Care Scale (CAFCPNPCS). Methods & Materials: The present study is methodological research that evaluates the psychometric characteristics of the CAFCPNPCS by measuring face validity, content validity, construct validity (confirmatory factor analysis and divergent validity), and internal consistency in 412 family caregivers of the patients in need of palliative care, who were selected through convenient sampling. The data were analyzed using SPSS 24 and LISREL 8.8. Results: According to the confirmatory factor analysis, the 5-factor model with 31 items was confirmed with the values RMSEA=0.05, CFI=0.95, and GFI=0.88. The divergent validity was measured by the estimation of the correlation between the caring ability score with the care burden score (which was measured by Zarit Burden Interview) of the family caregivers of the patients in need of palliative care. Cronbach's alpha (α) was reported to be 0.85 for the whole scale and 0.781-0.852 for other dimensions. Conclusion: CAFCPNPCS is a valid and reliable tool that can evaluate the caring ability of the family caregivers of patients in need of palliative care. Based on the results, it is recommended to utilize this scale to determine these caregivers’ ability to provide care and to examine the effectiveness of interventions to improve the dimensions of their caring ability.