A confirmatory factor analysis of the Caregiving Appraisal Scale for caregivers of home-based ventilator-assisted individuals.
OBJECTIVE
To confirm the underlying dimensions of the Caregiving Appraisal Scale (CAS) with use of data collected from caregivers of home-based ventilator-assisted individuals (VAIs).


METHODS
Cross-sectional survey.


METHODS
Residences of home-based VAIs.


METHODS
Two hundred seventy-seven primary family caregivers of VAIs.


METHODS
Twenty-eight-item CAS developed by Lawton et al. (1989), and an investigator-developed instrument to assess physical health and sociodemographic characteristics of both VAIs and their caregivers.


METHODS
None.


METHODS
Confirmatory factor analysis with principal components extraction. An oblique (oblimin) solution was used for rotation of the factor matrices. The number of common factors needed to obtain the best fit of the factor model was determined with use of maximum-likelihood estimation. Confirmatory factor analysis with linear structural equation modeling was also performed.


RESULTS
Confirmatory factor analysis did not fully replicate the factor structure proposed by Lawton et al.


CONCLUSIONS
The model proposed by Lawton et al. provides a useful foundation for examining the appraisal of family caregivers of home-based VAIs. Additional development work is needed for the CAS.
Sevick
M A
MA
Department of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1063, USA.
Sereika
S
S
Hoffman
L A
LA
Matthews
J T
JT
Chen
G J
GJ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006701:Home Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011581:Psychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012121:Respiration, Artificial; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States