Development process of an assessment instrument on the level of difficulty perceived by caregivers for the elderly

Abstract

The objective of this study was to build an instrument to assess the level of difficulties perceived by caregivers for the elderly. Methods: cross-sectional study, semi-structured interview carried out with informal caregivers for the elderly. In the first phase of this study, a semi-structured interview was conducted with the first sample of informal caregivers. From these results, an assessment instrument of level of difficulty felt by the informal caregiver while performing the care was built. In the second phase, the instrument was used with the second sample of informal caregivers to assess its internal consistency through Cronbach's Alpha coefficient. Results: the instrument was constituted by eleven domains and forty-eight items. Each item was to be ranked from 1 to 5, representing the best and the worst score, respectively. Internal Consistency analysis of the instrument was performed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The Cronbach's alpha values revealed a good internal consistency to the eleven domains of the instrument, with the coefficient ranging from .74 to 1.00. These values are considered good or even excellent. The total Cronbach's Alpha coefficient value of this instrument is .98. Conclusion: the analysis of the Cronbach's alpha values showed good internal consistency for the eleven domains of the instrument, i.e., the answers on the instrument are coherent with its questions. The assessment instrument reached its go in assessing the difficulty informal caregivers feel when caring for the elderly. It is recommended that the instrument is reproduced in a target population representative for external validity.