Purpose

This study aimed to examine psychometric properties of a caregiver version of the well-established Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General Scale (FACT-G) after conducting focus groups and obtaining expert input.

Methods

We made minor wording modifications to the Patient FACT-G to enable caregivers to report how the illness affected their overall quality of life (QOL) and well-being on four subscales (physical, social, emotional, functional). We tested the acceptability, precision, factor structure, reliability and validity of the Caregiver FACT-G among partners of prostate cancer patients (N = 263) and caregivers (spouses, siblings, adult children) of patients with advanced cancer (breast, lung, colorectal, prostate) (N = 484) using data from two Randomized Clinical Trials (RCTs).

Results

With a factor structure similar to the Patient FACT-G, Caregiver FACT-G was acceptable and precise in measuring caregiver QOL, with high inter-factor correlations and internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alphas 0.81–0.91). The Caregiver FACT-G had strong convergent validity demonstrated by significant positive correlations with caregiver self-efficacy (0.25–0.63), dyadic communication (0.18–0.51), and social support (0.18–0.54) in both samples. It also had strong discriminant validity evidenced by significant inverse correlations with negative appraisal of caregiving (− 0.37 to − 0.69), uncertainty (− 0.28 to − 0.53), hopelessness (− 0.25 to − 0.60), and avoidant coping (− 0.26 to − 0.58) in both samples. Caregivers’ baseline FACT-G scores were significantly associated with their physical (0.23) and mental well-being (0.54; 4-month follow-up) and their depression (− 0.69; 3-month follow-up), indicating strong predictive validity.

Conclusion

This is the first study evaluating the psychometric properties of the Caregiver FACT-G. More psychometric testing is warranted, especially among caregivers of diverse sociocultural backgrounds.

中文翻译：

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FACT-G癌症患者家庭护理人员生活质量量表的心理计量学特性。

目的

这项研究的目的是在进行焦点小组讨论并获得专家意见后，检查完善的癌症治疗通用量表（FACT-G）的护理者版本的心理测量特性。

方法

我们对患者FACT-G的措词进行了少量修改，以使护理人员能够在四个子等级（身体，社会，情感，功能）上报告疾病如何影响其总体生活质量（QOL）和幸福感。我们测试了前列腺癌患者（N  = 263）的伴侣以及晚期癌症患者（乳癌，肺癌，肺癌，高龄患者）的看护者（配偶，兄弟姐妹，成年子女）的照顾者FACT-G的可接受性，准确性，因子结构，可靠性和有效性（N  = 484），使用两次随机临床试验（RCT）的数据。

结果

由于具有类似于患者FACT-G的因子结构，在测量护理者QOL时，护理者FACT-G可以被接受且精确，具有高的因子间相关性和内部一致性可靠性（Cronbach's alphas 0.81-0.91）。在两个样本中，看护者FACT-G具有很强的收敛效度，这与看护者的自我效能感（0.25–0.63），二元交流（0.18–0.51）和社会支持（0.18–0.54）呈显着正相关。它也具有很强的判别效度，这与护理的负面评价（-0.37至-0.69），不确定性（-0.28至-0.53），绝望（-0.25至-0.60）和回避应对（-0.26至- 0.58）。护理人员的基线FACT-G得分与他们的身体健康（0.23）和精神健康（0.54;

结论

这是第一项评估看护者FACT-G的心理测量特性的研究。必须进行更多的心理测验，尤其是在具有不同社会文化背景的看护人中。