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Translation, adaptation and data quality of a D anish version of the B urden S cale for F amily C aregivers
Author(s) -
Brogaard Trine,
Neergaard Mette Asbjørn,
Guldin MaiBritt,
Sokolowski Ineta,
Vedsted Peter
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of caring sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.678
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1471-6712
pISSN - 0283-9318
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-6712.2012.01092.x
Subject(s) - cronbach's alpha , medicine , family caregivers , danish , cancer , scale (ratio) , feeling , family medicine , psychology , demography , gerontology , clinical psychology , psychometrics , social psychology , linguistics , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , sociology
Background The burden of caregiving can have various negative consequences. There is a need for health professionals to be able to measure the burden of caregiving among relatives of end‐stage cancer patients in a valid way. The Burden Scale for Family Caregivers ( BSFC ) has 28 items and was developed as a clinical tool for measuring the self‐reported burden among family caregivers caring for a relative at home. Aim To make a standardized translation of the English version of the BSFC into a Danish version and to report data quality in a group of Danish family caregivers caring for palliative care cancer patients. Material and method The BSFC was translated following WHO guidelines. Ninety family caregivers of end‐stage cancer patients were sent BSFC as part of a larger questionnaire. A total of 75 (83%) returned the questionnaire. Excluding responses with two or more missing items, 58 (64%) participants completed the BSFC . Results The words ‘care’, ‘caregiving’ and ‘caregiver’ were a challenge to the translators. The item response was moderate with missing answers from 4.0 to 18.7%. For the total sum‐score, mean perceived burden amongst participants was low (mean score 23.56 of max 84.00). Cronbach's alpha was 0.91 and average inter‐item correlation 0.26. Item‐rest correlations ranged from −0.02 to 0.72 and were below 0.40 for seven items. High scores on the BSFC was statistically significantly correlated with the feeling of social isolation (ρ = −0.332, p = 0.013) and with the dyspnoea subscale of the EORTC ‐ QLQ ‐15‐ PAL (ρ = 0.322, p = 0.012) but not with poor self‐reported health (ρ = −0.036, p = 0.805). Conclusion The BSFC was translated into Danish and showed problems with some data quality and validity measures. Hence, further psychometric testing on a larger population is needed before the scale can be recommended as a sum‐scale for scientific and clinical use.