Cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric evaluation of the Portuguese version of the family resilience questionnaire - short form (FaRE-SF-P) in women with breast cancer

Sílvia Almeida; Daniel Rodrigues da Silva; Diana Frasquilho; Beatriz Costa; Berta Sousa; Telmo Mourinho Baptista; Jaime Grácio; Raquel Lemos; Albino J Oliveira-Maia

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1022399

Cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric evaluation of the Portuguese version of the family resilience questionnaire - short form (FaRE-SF-P) in women with breast cancer

Front Psychol. 2023 Jan 17:13:1022399. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1022399. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Sílvia Almeida^{1

2}, Daniel Rodrigues da Silva¹, Diana Frasquilho³, Beatriz Costa¹, Berta Sousa³, Telmo Mourinho Baptista⁴, Jaime Grácio^{1

5}, Raquel Lemos^{1

6}, Albino J Oliveira-Maia^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Champalimaud Research and Clinical Centre, Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal.
² Graduate Programme in Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculdade de Psicologia da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
³ Breast Unit, Champalimaud Clinical Centre, Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal.
⁴ Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
⁵ NOVA Medical School, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, NMS, FCM, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
⁶ ISPA-Instituto Universitário de Ciências Psicológicas, Sociais e da Vida, Lisbon, Portugal.

Abstract

Background: A diagnosis of cancer, and the resulting treatment process, can be perceived as a life-threatening event, affecting not only patients but also their social network and, more specifically, their relatives. While the ability to cope and adjust to difficult health situations may be challenging, family resilience may optimize a positive adaptation to adversity and contribute to enhance the patient's quality of life. The Family Resilience Questionnaire (FaRE) is a self-report measure of family resilience that assesses this construct systematically. We aimed to validate the Portuguese version of a short form of the FaRE (FaRE-SF-P) in a sample of women with breast cancer.

Methods: 147 women recently diagnosed with early breast cancer were recruited at the Champalimaud Clinical Centre in Lisbon. Participants completed psychometric assessment including the Portuguese version of the FaRE-SF-P, composed by two subscales of the original version - the FaRE Perceived Family Coping (FaRE-PFC) and the FaRE Communication and Cohesion (FaRE-CC). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to assess the factor structure of the FaRE-SF-P. Construct validity was assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) for divergent validity, and the Modified Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey (mMOS-SS) as well as the social functioning subscale from the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) for convergent validity.

Results: The CFA results confirmed a correlated two-factor structure model consistent with the Perceived Family Coping and the Communication and Cohesion subscales. Internal consistency reliability indicated good values both for Perceived Family Coping and Communication and Cohesion subscales. The results for construct validity showed acceptable convergent and divergent validity.

Discussion: The FaRE-SF-P showed good psychometric properties demonstrating to be a valid and reliable family resilience measure to use in Portuguese women diagnosed with breast cancer. Since FaRE-SF-P is a short instrument it may be a useful screening tool in an oncological clinical practice routine.

Keywords: assessment; breast cancer; coping; family resilience; psychological distress; validation.