Inventário de Habilidades Sociais para Cuidadores de Idosos (IHS-CI): evidências de validade

Social Skills Inventory for Caregivers of Elderly People (IHS CI): Evidence of validity Caring for a dependent elderly relative requires learning information and developing skills, including social skills. As such, an instrument for measuring social skills of family caregivers is needed. The aim of this research was to construct a Social Skills Inventory for family Caregivers of the Elderly (IHS CI). Two studies were conducted: (1) a semantic and content analysis of the IHS IC and (2) an analysis of the internal structure and precision of the IHS CI. In Study 1, experts approved 31 items of the initial version of the instrument. In Study 2, the IHS CI was answered by 205 caregivers. Based on an exploratory factor analysis, the best structure was: emotional expressiveness (α=0,87), assertive communication (α=0,79) and information seeking (α=0,60). The internal reliability of the instrument was excellent (α=0,89). Further studies are needed, in order to obtain additional evidence about the validity of the IHS CI.