Validity and Reliability of the Turkish Version of the Family Empowerment Scale for Caregivers of Adults with Mental Health Issues (FES-AMT)

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to adapt the Family Empowerment Scale for family caregivers of adults with mental health issues to the Turkish context. Methods: The study data is collected from 1 January 2019 to 15 April 2020. The FES was originally developed by Koren et al.and, Kageyama et al. adapted it to assess the empowerment of family caregivers of adults with mental health issues, and they tested its validity and reliability. The study sample comprised 223 caregivers whose families of patients staying at the psychiatry clinic of a research and training hospital and those who had applied to the polyclinic. The scale has 34 items rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale. The scoring was subjected to a two-phase cluster analysis to obtain detailed information about the caregiver's empowerment. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis was applied to examine the goodness of fit and construct validity of the structure, which was determined to consist of 3 factors by explanatory factor analysis. Factor loading range from 0.722 (item 20) to 0.008 (item 22). Exploratory factor analysis was conducted. Kaiser -Meyer -Olkin sampling adequacy value was determined as 0.894. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of internal consistency was .908. The scale has three subscales: Family, Service System, and Community/Political. The total variance explained by the scale was 47.78%. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the whole scale was .927. Conclusion:The Turkish version of the Family Empowerment Scale for caregivers of adults with mental health issues (FES-AMT) is a valid and reliable measurement tool. This scale can be used to evaluate patient relatives in the clinical practice of nurses.