Abstract:

Aim: The Modified Carer Assessment Scale is developed to assist community nurses and family carers of stroke survivors to identify and prioritize caregiving problems. This paper aims to describe the development of this scale and examine its psychometric properties using family caregivers of stroke survivors in Hong Kong as sample.

Method: Reliability of the scale is determined through internal consistency. Content validity is examined by determining the content validity index using expert panel. The end user of the scale including both community nurses and family carers were invited in the expert panel. Construct validity was measured by compared with the Cost of Care Index, the Short form – 36 Health Survey and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support Scale.

Sample size: Convenience sample of 72 family carers was recruited from one local rehabilitation hospital that provides stroke care from June 2001 to November 2002. The subject in the study was the main carer looking after stroke survivors at home.

Results The Modified Carer Assessment Scale demonstrated good internal consistency with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.88. The content validity index was 0.91. Construct validity was established by its moderate to high correlation with the Cost of Care Index, the Short form –36 Health Survey and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support Scale.

Conclusion Results indicated that the Modified Carer Assessment Scale is a reliable and valid instrument. Using the scale to assess and evaluate family support intervention that focus on enhancing the problem solving ability is suggested.

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Sigma Theta Tau International
July 22-24, 2004