Measuring Family Members’ Experiences of Integrating Chronic Illness Into Family Life: Preliminary Validity and Reliability of the Family Integration Experience Scale:Chronic Illness (FIES:CI)

Abstract

Measures of family members’ experiences of integrating chronic conditions (CC) or chronic illnesses (CI) into family life are needed to optimize family care. This article reports development and psychometric testing of the Family Integration Experience Scale: Chronic Illness (FIES:CI), a measure of family member perceptions of integrating CC or CI into evolving family life. Family Systems Nursing (FSN), the Reintegration Within Families in the Context of Chronic Illness Model, and measurement theory guided the study. Participants were those ( N = 328) managing a CC or CI. Concurrent validity ( r = +.629; p < .001) and discriminant validity, F(1, 155) = 7.09; p < .05, were demonstrated. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-dimensional model explaining 63.8% variance. Scale internal reliability was α = .70 and .785, and factor reliabilities were α = .798 (Factor 1) and α = .847 (Factor 2). Test–retest item and subscale correlations, while accounting for intra-family correlation, were acceptable. The FIES:CI contributes a valuable new measure of family integration in the context of CC or CI with preliminary validity and reliability as tested in these samples.