FAMILY RELATIONS IN THE ELDERLY: ADAPTATION OF THE INDEX OF FAMILY RELATIONS (IFR)

Even if ageing is not necessary related with disease and incapacity, degenerative chronic diseases are often found in the elderly and this fact is related with great functional incapacity that determines consequences at the individual, family and community levels. The Family Relationship Index (Hudson, 1993) is an instrument that assesses the magnitude of problems in personal and social functioning in subjects family adjustment and, as such, is considered a measure of intra-family stress according to the author. This article presents the adaptation of IFR in a sample of older people living in the community. Results show a high internal consistency (α = .95) and the study of validity has determined the removal of one item while all the others saturate a unique factor that explains 46,86% of total variance. IFR shows good construct and discriminant validity. Based on the results, the scale presents good psychometric qualities and may be used in the elderly population living in the community. In terms of construct validity, results showed that intra-familial stress was negatively correlated with quality of life and positively with depression.