Development of a Self-Care Scale for Compound Caregivers

Area of Science:

• Gerontology and Public Health
• Health Psychology
• Sociology of Health

Background:

• Aging populations and declining birth rates increase demand for informal care globally.
• Compound caregivers, those caring for multiple individuals, face unique stressors and health risks.
• Existing self-care assessments do not adequately address the needs of compound caregivers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the Self-Care Scale for Compound Caregivers (SCSCC).
• To provide a reliable tool for assessing self-care practices in this population.
• To inform targeted support, interventions, and policies for compound caregivers.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving an online survey of 400 compound caregivers.
• Development and validation using item analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses.
• Reliability assessed with Cronbach's alpha; criterion validity evaluated against self-rated health.

Main Results:

• The final eight-item SCSCC demonstrated a robust single-factor structure.
• Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good model fit.
• The SCSCC showed strong internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.859) and positive correlation with self-rated health (r = 0.387, p < 0.001).

Conclusions:

• The SCSCC is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring self-care in compound caregivers.
• This scale can facilitate health promotion and targeted interventions.
• Findings support the SCSCC's utility in community care systems to improve caregiver well-being.