Preliminary reliability and validity testing of a Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Chinese Family Caregivers

• Published in: Aging & mental health Vol. 17; no. 5; pp. 630 - 637
• Main Authors: Zhang, Shu-Ying, Edwards, Helen, Yates, Patsy, Ruth, Elder, Guo, Qihao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis Group 01.07.2013
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Care management; caregivers; Caregivers - psychology; Carers; Caring; China; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dementia; Factor analysis; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Family; Female; Health care; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Questionnaires; Reliability; Reproducibility of Results; Self Efficacy; self-efficacy questionnaire; Selfefficacy; Surveys and Questionnaires - standards; Test-Retest reliability; Validity; China
• ISSN: 1360-7863; 1364-6915
• DOI: 10.1080/13607863.2013.771615

Objectives: To develop and test preliminary reliability and validity of a Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Chinese Family Caregivers (SEQCFC). Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 196 family caregivers (CGs) of people with dementia (CGs) was conducted to determine the factor structure of a SEQCFC of people with dementia. Following factor analyses, preliminary testing was performed, including internal consistency, 4-week test-retest reliability, and construct and convergent validity. Results: Factor analyses with direct oblimin rotation were performed. Eight items were removed and five subscales (self-efficacy for gathering information about treatment, symptoms and health care; obtaining support; responding to behaviour disturbances; managing household, personal and medical care; and managing distress associated with caregiving) were identified. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the whole scale and for each subscale were all over 0.80. The 4-week test-retest reliabilities for the whole scale and for each subscale ranged from 0.64 to 0.85. The convergent validity was acceptable. Conclusions: Evidence for the preliminary testing of the SEQCFC was encouraging. A future follow-up study using confirmatory factor analysis with a new sample from different recruitment centres in Shanghai will be conducted. Future psychometric property testings of the questionnaire will be required for CGs from other regions of mainland China.