Psychometric properties of an instrument to measure family disease management

An instrumental study of 392 households with sick or disabled members was conducted to analyze the psychometric properties of the Family Disease Management Scale. Three different models were analyzed using the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). One was a single-dimensional factor (family disease management) with 30 items; and two hierarchical models with three factors, which represent the dimensions, family support, family normalization and family participation, that placed the workload into another of higher order called family disease management, the first with 30 items and the second with 29. The CFA results showed that the latter 29-item model provided a better fit. The internal consistency analysis using the Cronbach alpha test showed a value of .93 for the complete scale and above .80 in the three subscales. This instrument may be useful to assess how families manage the illness or disability of its members, especially in clinical practice given the importance of the family as the primary caregiver. As well as in performing epidemiological studies, and in the field of management, planning and assistance.