Development and Psychometric Evaluation of Brief Scales for Assessing Two Dimensions of Psychosocial Resource Utilization in Family Caregivers

Abstract

Abstract: Psychosocial resources can enhance positive experiences and reduce negative experiences in family caregivers. This study aimed to develop scales for measuring the utilization of resources related to well-being and coping with daily hassles adapted for family caregivers. It aimed to examine their psychometric properties with a German sample of 445 informal caregivers. Factorial analyses, reliability, and validity tests yielded the scales “Utilization of resources related to well-being” and “Self-encouragement and acceptance.” These showed divergent validity to scales focusing on care-recipients’ cognitive and functional impairment and sufficient convergent validity to scales measuring physical health complaints, caregiver burden, and depression. The scales represent economic measures suitable for both preventive and interventional studies.