Validation of the Benefits of Being a Caregiver Scale (BBCS) – further development of an independent characteristic of informal caregiving

BMC Geriatrics

Research

Elmar Graessel¹  Anna Pendergrass¹  Nicolas Rohleder²  Saskia Weiß³ 

[1] Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Centre of Health Services Research in Medicine, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Schwabachanlage 6, 91054, Erlangen, Germany;Department of Psychology, Chair of Health Psychology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany;German Alzheimer Society, Berlin, Germany;

关键词: Positive aspects of caregiving;    Benefits of Being a Caregiver Scale;    Factor analysis;    Reliability;    Validity;    Item difficulty;    Discriminatory power;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12877-022-03650-y

 received in 2022-07-21, accepted in 2022-11-24,  发布年份 2022

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAlthough larger amounts of scientific attention have been directed toward the concept of positive aspects of caregiving (PAC) in recent years, a globally uniform definition and a suitable, scientifically valid questionnaire for all informal caregivers have yet to be developed. On the basis of the questionnaires that already exist for measuring PAC, the authors aimed to (a) concretize the concept and (b) develop a new scale by focusing only on items that show that family caregivers experience a benefit for themselves and that the benefit they experience is the result of their caregiving activities.MethodsThe Benefits of Being a Caregiver Scale (BBCS) was validated on data from 961 informal caregivers. Cronbach's alpha was calculated to assess the internal consistency of the items, and a factor analysis was conducted to determine the structure of the BBCS. The discriminatory power and item difficulties were examined. Construct validity was established by testing four hypotheses.ResultsThe factor analysis confirmed the single-factor structure of the BBCS. Cronbach's alpha for the total scale was 0.922. One of the 15 items did not show good to very good discriminatory power and was excluded from the final version of the scale. A higher BBCS score was observed if the caregiver experienced more positive aspects of caregiving and tended to have better general coping skills and a positive relationship with the care-receiver. The BBCS score was not associated with the subjective burden of the caregiver. Results confirmed the validity of the BBCS.ConclusionThe BBCS is a valid assessment instrument for measuring the benefits that caregivers experience from their caregiving work and can easily be used in research and practice. The BBCS is available free of charge in English and German (http://www.caregiver-benefits.de).

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

【 图 表 】

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