Psychometric validation of the  Persian version of the CarerQol-7D instrument on caregivers of patients  with multiple sclerosis

Hoda Faraji; Isa Akbarzadeh; Mohammad Ali Sahraian; Shekoufeh Nikfar

doi:10.18502/cjn.v23i1.16433

Hoda Faraji Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Pharmaceutical Administration, School of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Isa Akbarzadeh Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Mohammad Ali Sahraian Department of Neurology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Shekoufeh Nikfar Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Pharmaceutical Administration, School of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/cjn.v23i1.16433

Keywords: CarerQol-7D; Multiple Sclerosis; Reliability and Validity; Caregivers

Abstract

Background: Providing informal care can deeply influence, both physically and emotionally, the quality of life (QoL) of caregivers, especially when the disease becomes chronic. CarerQol-7D is one of the most common instruments for measuring informal care. We aimed to develop a Persian version of the CarerQol-7D in the context of Iranian caregivers of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). To this end, we investigated the validity and reliability of the mentioned instrument.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study using consecutive sampling method, the backward-forward translation method was used to achieve the Persian version of CarerQol-7D. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to perform confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Cronbach’s alpha was also reported for this

instrument for the evaluation of internal consistency.

Results: This tool was evaluated based on a sample of 452 caregivers of patients with MS from Sina Hospital, Tehran, Iran. Most of the participants were men (62.6%) and spouses of patients (56.6%). Based on the correlation of caregivers’ characteristics, the clinical validity of this tool was observed to be relatively moderate. The Cronbach’s alpha for this tool was estimated to be 65%. The normed fit index (NFI) (0.906), relative fit index (RFI) (0.812), incremental fit index (IFI) (0.948), Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) (0.892), comparative fit index (CFI) (0.946), and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) (0.049) were the model fit indices for the CarerQol-7D instrument.

Conclusion: The findings showed good internal consistency and strong validity of the CarerQol-7D. Thus, we suggest researchers use this instrument to measure the QoL of caregivers for use in economic evaluations.