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A new test of the construct validity of the CarerQol instrument: measuring the impact of informal care giving

PURPOSE: Most economic evaluations of health care programmes do not consider the effects of informal care, while this could lead to suboptimal policy decisions. This study investigates the construct validity of the CarerQol instrument, which measures and values carer effects, in a new population of...

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Autores principales: Hoefman, Renske J., van Exel, N. Job A., Looren de Jong, Sandra, Redekop, W. Ken, Brouwer, Werner B. F.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Netherlands 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3228404/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21197582
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11136-010-9829-8
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author Hoefman, Renske J.
van Exel, N. Job A.
Looren de Jong, Sandra
Redekop, W. Ken
Brouwer, Werner B. F.
author_facet Hoefman, Renske J.
van Exel, N. Job A.
Looren de Jong, Sandra
Redekop, W. Ken
Brouwer, Werner B. F.
author_sort Hoefman, Renske J.
collection PubMed
description PURPOSE: Most economic evaluations of health care programmes do not consider the effects of informal care, while this could lead to suboptimal policy decisions. This study investigates the construct validity of the CarerQol instrument, which measures and values carer effects, in a new population of informal caregivers. METHODS: A questionnaire was distributed by mail (n = 1,100, net response rate = 21%) to regional informal care support centers throughout the Netherlands. Two types of construct validity, i.e., convergent and clinical validity, have been analyzed. Convergent validity was assessed with Spearman’s correlation coefficients and multivariate correlation between the burden dimensions (CarerQol-7D) and the valuation component (CarerQol-VAS) of the CarerQol. Additionally, convergent validity was analyzed with Spearman’s correlation coefficients between the CarerQol and other measures of subjective caregiver burden (SRB, PU). Clinical validity was evaluated with multivariate correlation between CarerQol-VAS and CarerQol-7D, characteristics of caregivers, care recipients and care situation among the whole sample of caregivers and subgroups. RESULTS: The positive (negative) dimensions of CarerQol-7D were positively (negatively) related to CarerQol-VAS, and almost all had moderate strength of convergent validity. CarerQol-VAS was positively associated with PU and negatively with SRB. The CarerQol-VAS reflects differences in important background characteristics of informal care: type of relationship, age of the care recipient and duration of care giving were associated with higher CarerQol-VAS scores. These results confirmed earlier tests of the construct validity of the CarerQol. Furthermore, the dimensions of CarerQol-7D significantly explained differences in CarerQol-VAS scores among subgroups of carers. CONCLUSION: Notwithstanding the limitations of our study, such as the low response rate, this study shows that the CarerQol provides a valid means to measure carer effects for use in economic evaluations. Future research should derive a valuation set for the CarerQol and further address the instrument’s content validity, sensitivity and reliability.
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spelling pubmed-32284042011-12-01 A new test of the construct validity of the CarerQol instrument: measuring the impact of informal care giving Hoefman, Renske J. van Exel, N. Job A. Looren de Jong, Sandra Redekop, W. Ken Brouwer, Werner B. F. Qual Life Res Article PURPOSE: Most economic evaluations of health care programmes do not consider the effects of informal care, while this could lead to suboptimal policy decisions. This study investigates the construct validity of the CarerQol instrument, which measures and values carer effects, in a new population of informal caregivers. METHODS: A questionnaire was distributed by mail (n = 1,100, net response rate = 21%) to regional informal care support centers throughout the Netherlands. Two types of construct validity, i.e., convergent and clinical validity, have been analyzed. Convergent validity was assessed with Spearman’s correlation coefficients and multivariate correlation between the burden dimensions (CarerQol-7D) and the valuation component (CarerQol-VAS) of the CarerQol. Additionally, convergent validity was analyzed with Spearman’s correlation coefficients between the CarerQol and other measures of subjective caregiver burden (SRB, PU). Clinical validity was evaluated with multivariate correlation between CarerQol-VAS and CarerQol-7D, characteristics of caregivers, care recipients and care situation among the whole sample of caregivers and subgroups. RESULTS: The positive (negative) dimensions of CarerQol-7D were positively (negatively) related to CarerQol-VAS, and almost all had moderate strength of convergent validity. CarerQol-VAS was positively associated with PU and negatively with SRB. The CarerQol-VAS reflects differences in important background characteristics of informal care: type of relationship, age of the care recipient and duration of care giving were associated with higher CarerQol-VAS scores. These results confirmed earlier tests of the construct validity of the CarerQol. Furthermore, the dimensions of CarerQol-7D significantly explained differences in CarerQol-VAS scores among subgroups of carers. CONCLUSION: Notwithstanding the limitations of our study, such as the low response rate, this study shows that the CarerQol provides a valid means to measure carer effects for use in economic evaluations. Future research should derive a valuation set for the CarerQol and further address the instrument’s content validity, sensitivity and reliability. Springer Netherlands 2011-01-01 2011 /pmc/articles/PMC3228404/ /pubmed/21197582 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11136-010-9829-8 Text en © The Author(s) 2010 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
spellingShingle Article
Hoefman, Renske J.
van Exel, N. Job A.
Looren de Jong, Sandra
Redekop, W. Ken
Brouwer, Werner B. F.
A new test of the construct validity of the CarerQol instrument: measuring the impact of informal care giving
title A new test of the construct validity of the CarerQol instrument: measuring the impact of informal care giving
title_full A new test of the construct validity of the CarerQol instrument: measuring the impact of informal care giving
title_fullStr A new test of the construct validity of the CarerQol instrument: measuring the impact of informal care giving
title_full_unstemmed A new test of the construct validity of the CarerQol instrument: measuring the impact of informal care giving
title_short A new test of the construct validity of the CarerQol instrument: measuring the impact of informal care giving
title_sort new test of the construct validity of the carerqol instrument: measuring the impact of informal care giving
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3228404/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21197582
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11136-010-9829-8
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