Learning Objective #1: realize the process of instrument development

Learning Objective #2: realize the structure of meaning of caregiving for Taiwanese caregivers

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The purpose of this study was to validate the Chinese version of Meaning of Caregiving Scale(SMCS). Sixteen items of the scale were designed based on the result of in-depth interview of 20 caregivers of schizophrenic patients conducted by the researcher and were identified including caregiving appraisal,family responsibility,individual believe. Each construct contains 6-7 items. Three professionals were invited to conduct a back direct content validity review to ensure the accuracy that each item can be classified to a proper construct. Five experts in mental health were invited to review content validity. Thirty caregivers of schizophrenic patients were recruited for pilot study. Item analysis and internal reliability were conducted to modify the scale. The results of this study revealed that the meaning of care giving has reached satisfactory level of internal consistency reliability, tested with Cronbach a coefficients .85, .83, .72, for caregiving appraisal, family responsibility, and individual believe respectively. The scale of meaning of caregiving had shown a clear factorial structure. Expert's validity and exploratory factor analyses (principal axis factoring with oblique rotation) identified three factors. Each absolute value of factor loading was between .62~.97, and the cumulative R-square for this model was 81.10%. Furthermore, through the confirmatory factor analysis, this scale had shown that the theoretical model was a good fit for the observed data.