Psychometrics of the “Family-Centred Care Survey – Adult Scale”

Abstract

Abstract Background: Family-Centred-Care (FCC) is a model of care used in paediatric and, recently, in adult settings. In order to generate evidence on the effect of interventions to improve family centredness a valid and reliable means of measuring FCC is required. Aim: The aim was to test the psychometric properties of an instrument - the "FCC Survey - Adult Scale", designed to measure family members' perception of FCC in an adult acute care setting. Methods: The survey was administered to family members of intensive care patients during their hospital visit. The survey had 20 items divided into 3 sections: Collaboration (9 items); Respect (6 items) and Support (5 items). Exploratory factor analysis was performed using orthogonal rotation. Results: Responses from 160 participants were analysed. The exploratory factor analysis with 3 factors had a total variance of 46.6%. Factor loadings varied from 0.37 to 0.7. The survey's total Cronbach's alpha was 0.81 with Factor 1 at 0.68; Factor 2 and 3 were 0.76 and 0.35 respectively. Discussion: The overall tool showed internal consistency. Analysis revealed a variance of less than 50% and a number of loadings were low. Factor 1 and 3 were problematic with low variance, loadings and Cronbachs. Conclusion: Preliminary psychometric analyses of the data set indicate that the factor analysis does not support the score interpretation of the "FCC Survey - Adult Scale". The "FCC Survey - Adult Scale" cannot be recommended as a tool to measure the perceptions of FCC in its current form. Further work is required.