Transcultural adaptation of the revised caregiving appraisal scale (RCAS) in the Spanish population

Abstract

Aim: To develop a transcultural adaptation of the Revised Caregiving Appraisal Scale among Spanish caregivers of dependent older people and to test the psychometric properties of the scale.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Methods: The Revised Caregiving Appraisal Scale was transculturally adapted to the Spanish population following the methodology of direct and back translation. The Spanish version of the Revised Caregiving Appraisal Scale was administered to a total of 182 family caregivers of older dependent people. The study began in January 2016 and ended in December of the same year. The construct validity was studied by means of the scree plot and parallel analysis. The exploratory factorial analysis was carried out, and the correlation between factors was studied. To verify the reliability of the process, Cronbach's alpha and homogeneity were calculated by the corrected total item correlation. The validity of the convergent criterion was studied by means of the Pearson correlation coefficient, using the Zarit Caregiver Load Interview and the Family Satisfaction Scale as the gold standard.

Results: The construct validity revealed three factors: 'Subjective Burden' (15 items), 'Satisfaction' (7 items) and 'Competence' (3 items). The Cronbach alpha was .86 for 'Subjective Burden', .74 for 'Satisfaction' and .74 for 'Competence'. The corrected total item correlation was greater than .25. The validity of the convergent criterion of the 'Subjective Burden' and 'Competence' factors with the 'Zarit Caregiver's Load Interview' presented a very high statistically significant correlation, unlike 'Satisfaction' which presented a low positive correlation with the 'Family Satisfaction Scale'.

Conclusion: The Spanish version of the Revised Caregiving Appraisal Scale is a valid and reliable scale according to the tests performed on a random sample of family caregivers of older dependent people in Spain.

Impact: This scale will enable the simultaneous assessment of negative ('Subjective Burden' and 'Competence') and positive ('Satisfaction') perceptions among family caregivers of older dependent people.

Keywords: Spanish; burden; caregiver; family care; instrument development; older people; revised caregiving appraisal scale; satisfaction.