Validation of dementia care-related scales among informal caregivers of Latinos with dementia or mild cognitive impairment

Abstract

AbstractObjectivesTo test the psychometric properties of several dementia care-related scales among Latinos in the US.DesignWe leveraged secondary baseline data from a one-arm mHealth trial on dementia caregiver support. We included 100 responses for caregiver-focused scales and 88 responses for care recipient-focused scales. Scales included the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire Severity and Distress scales, six-item Zarit Burden Inventory, Ten-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, Geriatric Depression Inventory, Quality of Life in Alzheimer’s Disease, and Single-item Satisfaction With Life Scale. We calculated concurrent validity using Pearson and Spearman correlations and expected correlations amongst all variables in line with the Stress Process Framework. We calculated internal consistency reliability using Cronbach’s alpha.ResultsAll concurrent validity correlations followed the expected directionality, with 19/21 inter-scale correlations in the total sample reaching statistical significance (p<0.05), and 17/21 reaching at least a low correlation (0.3). Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.832 to 0.879 in all scales in the total sample.ConclusionThe English and Spanish caregiver-administered scales tested in this manuscript have good psychometric properties.Clinical ImplicationsThe dementia care-related scales are now appropriately available for use among US Latinos in research and clinical contexts.