engleski

Psychometric characteristics of the Croatian version of the Zarit Burden Interview questionnaire among informal caregivers of long- term mechanically ventilated patients

Background: The aim is to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Croatian version of the Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview (ZBI) among the population of informal caregivers of long-term mechanically ventilated patients. Subjects and methods: After a preliminary analysis, 25 participants were selected by using strictly defined criteria and they were asked to complete the Croatian version of the ZBI. The test - retest method was used for reliability assessment while an exploratory strategy of factor analysis was used to identify real-life existent subscales. Results: After reliability and validity assessment, 3 items were removed from the original ZBI so that the Croatian version of the ZBI consists of 19 items. Internal consistency, observed through Cronbach s alpha for extracted subscales and for the whole questionnaire, were identified as high ranged from 0.875 to 0.922. Furthermore, exploratory factor analysis using Guttman-Kaiser criterion identified the 6 subscales for the ZBI. Conclusions: Due to the fact that approximately 30 % of targeted population was included in the study, the Croatian version of the ZBI can be accepted as a reliable and valid tool for measuring burden among informal caregivers of long-term mechanically ventilated patients. Family caregiver's burden level assessment can be crucial to enhance outcomes associated with future caregiving.

long-term ventilation ; informal caregiving ; burden

nije evidentirano