Uncovering the cultural context for quality of family caregiving for elders

This article is part of a symposium exploring issues in developing cross-culturally equivalent conceptualizations and measures for a study of elder family caregiving. This article describes the development of an instrument to measure quality of elder family caregiving among Anglo and Mexican American caregivers. Following a review of typical approaches for evaluating quality of caregiving, a cross-cultural standard for excellence in elder caregiving is described. An instrument consistent with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the QUALCARE Scale, is identified as an appropriate cross-cultural instrument for assessing the quality of elder family caregiving. Refinement of the QUALCARE Scale using Berry's model for cross-cultural research, which necessitated identification of appropriate cross-cultural indicators of quality, is described. Examples of this process of indicator clarification are given for several basic human rights, based on the cross-cultural research team members' experiences with Anglo and Mexican American caregivers.