Development of the Caring Competence Scale for Family Caregivers of Persons With Mental Disorders

Although family care is crucial for the recovery of persons with mental disorders, no tool is available to measure the caring competence of family caregivers.

This methodological study aimed to develop a scale that reflects the caring competence of family caregivers of persons with mental disorders and to verify its validity and reliability.

Fifty initial items were derived on the basis of a previous study that analysed the concept of caring competence among family caregivers of persons with mental disorders. The initial items were revised based on content validity, and 48 preliminary items were selected. Data were collected from 361 families of persons with mental disorders. Data were analysed using factor analysis.

The caring competence scale for family caregivers of persons with mental disorders consisted of five sub-factors and 22 items. The five sub-factors were compassionate relationship formation (six items), skilful disease management (four items), respecting the patient (four items), self-care (four items), and hope (four items). The developed scale had high reliability, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.93. Verifying the criterion validity of the developed scale revealed that the correlation between the criterion scale (caregiving self-efficacy scale) and the developed scale was statistically significant, with a correlation coefficient of 0.63.

This study presents empirical evidence for the reliability and validity of the caring competence scale for family caregivers of persons with mental disorders.

This scale provides reference for mental health nurses to evaluate the caring competence of family caregivers of persons with mental disorders.