Validity and reliability of the caregivers’ Needs Checklist for Dementia

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the reliability and validity of the Caregivers’ Needs Checklist for Dementia (CNCD) in a community sample of informal caregivers. A 26-item self-administered CNCD was developed following focus group discussions with caregivers of people with dementia and expert panel discussions.

Sample comprised 109 caregivers of older adults with dementia who had completed the CNCD during a national survey. Construct validity of the CNCD was established through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and its reliability was investigated with Cronbach’s alpha statistics. Criterion validity was explored by testing a priori hypotheses through correlations.

The mean (SD) age of the caregivers was 55.9 (10.0) years, the majority was aged between 50-64 years (62.4%), women (61.5%) and Chinese (51.4%). EFA identified five factors -information,  access to services,  availability of services,  other formal support services and

informal support, which accounted for 66% of the total variance. High Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were observed for the measure (0.92) and its five factor-based sub-scales, which ranged from 0.78 to 0.93. Correlations with validity measures provided acceptable evidence for its criterion validity. Study findings suggest that the CNCD is a valid and reliable measure for identifying unmet needs of dementia caregivers and can potentially be used as a screening measure by service providers in routine practice. Further research in larger samples is necessary to confirm its psychometric properties.