The Experienced Benefits of the 17-Item Benefit Finding Scale in Chinese Colorectal Cancer Survivor and Spousal Caregiver Couples

Abstract

The specific aims of the present study were twofold: (i) to examine the psychometric properties of a Chinese version of the 17-item Benefit Finding Scale (BFS-C), and (ii) to explore the experienced benefits in colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors and their spousal caregivers (SCs). A total of 286 CRC survivors and SCs participated in the investigation, which assessed participant variables of demographic characteristics and benefit finding (BF). Statistical methods applied were confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), Cronbach’s α, Pearson’s correlation, Kappa coefficient, paired t-tests, and one-way ANOVAs. CFA analysis supported a three-factor model for structure validity. All Cronbach’s α for BFS-C was greater than 0.870 in both CRC survivors and SCs. The test–retest correlations at the scale level ranged from good to excellent for CRC survivors (r = 0.752–0.922), and from moderate to good for SCs (r = 0.469–0.654). There were moderate to high correlations between CRC survivors and SCs in all of the paired BFs (all Ps < 0.001, r = 0.332–0.575). This report provided the satisfactory psychometric properties of the BFS-C in such aspects as construct validity, internal, and test–retest reliability among couples coping with CRC in China. Healthcare professionals need to treat couples as a unit and develop dyadic interventions to improve dyadic BF when supporting CRC survivors.