Reliability and validity of a caregiving burden scale when used with South Asian family caregivers

Daniel Wing Leung Lai*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to conferenceConference paperpeer-review

Abstract

Family caregiving can be a stressful and burdensome task and process. In order to provide adequate and appropriate support to the family caregivers, a reliable and valid assessment tool is needed. The increase of culturally diverse aging populations begs the question of whether the application of assessment tools to culturally diverse groups is reliable and valid. This study assessed the reliability and validity of the Zarit Burden Interview based upon a random sample of 166 family caregivers from the South Asian community in Calgary. Data were obtained through a telephone interview in which the ZBI and caregiving related questions were administered in various South Asian native languages of the participants. The internal consistency level of the ZBI was high with Cronbach’s alphas being .95 for all caregivers, .93 for the male caregivers, and .96 for the female caregivers. The results of exploratory factor analysis using principle component analysis yielded a three- factor structure for all caregivers as well as for the female caregivers. The three factors accounted for 67.2% and 70.8% of the total variance for all the caregivers and the female caregivers respectively. 72.8% of the total variance. As for the male caregivers, five factors were identified and they explained 71.7% of the total variance. The findings obtained indicate the relevance of the ZBI items when assessing the level of caregiving burden on South Asian family caregivers. Further research using a larger sample to examine the intra-group cultural variation within this South Asian caregiver population would be useful.

Conference

Conference40th Annual Scientific and Educational Meeting of the Canadian Association on Gerontology (CAG) and the 4th Pan-American Congress of the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG)
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityVancouver
Period21/10/1123/10/11
Internet address

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