Objective: Identification of areas that family members consider important and in which they need help and support is one of the main goals of palliative care. Our research aimed to assess the psychometric properties of a Czech version of the Family Inventory of Needs (FIN).
Method: The group comprised 272 family members of terminally ill cancer patients at the University Hospital in Ostrava. Reliability was assessed by internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha), test-retest reliability, and correlation of both scales and items within the scales (item-total correlation). To verify construct validity, exploratory factor analysis and principal component analysis with a varimax rotation were utilized.
Results: Using exploratory factor analysis, the following four factors (domains) were extracted: basic information, information on treatment and care, support, and comfort of the patient. Cronbach's α for the entire questionnaire was 0.924 on the importance scale and 0.912 for the satisfaction scale; for all domains, a value of α greater than 0.7 was ascertained. Test-retest reliability was also higher than 0.7 for all domains. On the satisfaction scale, a moderate correlation was confirmed between unmet needs in the domains basic information, support, and comfort of the patient, and the total score, and in selected quality-of-life domains.
Significance of results: The results of tests on the psychometric properties of the FIN questionnaire demonstrated at least satisfactory validity and reliability, and confirmed that it can be employed to assess the needs of palliative care patients in the Czech Republic.
Keywords: Family; Needs assessment; Palliative care; Reliability; Validity.