Development and validation of the WEll-being and Satisfaction of CAREgivers of Children with Diabetes Questionnaire (WE-CARE).
BACKGROUND
This study was designed to develop a diabetes-specific questionnaire on parents' quality of life and satisfaction with their child's diabetes treatment, the WEll-being and Satisfaction of CAREgivers of Children with Diabetes Questionnaire, and to conduct psychometric validation of the WE-CARE.


METHODS
Parents of 116 children aged 6 to 11 years were enrolled in the United States. Children had type 1 diabetes mellitus for > 1 year, had been treated with subcutaneous insulin for > or = 2 months, and had a recent glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1C) measurement. Recruiting clinicians provided clinical information on the children. Over a two-week period, parents completed WE-CARE (initial 68 items) and two other questionnaires (the 36-item Short Form of the Medical Outcomes Study and the 50-item Child Health Questionnaire-Parent Form) twice.


RESULTS
A literature review and one-on-one interview with caregivers and pediatricians led to the development of a draft questionnaire consisting of 68 items. Factor analysis suggested retention of 37 of the 68 initial items grouped into four multi-item scales (Psychosocial Well-being, Ease of Insulin Use, Treatment Satisfaction, and Acceptance of Insulin Administration as well as a Total Score). The four multi-item domains of WE-CARE were found to be psychometrically robust - they had negligible floor and ceiling effects, excellent internal consistency and test-retest reliability, high item-discriminant validity and good concurrent, divergent, known-group and clinical validity. Moderate interscale correlations among the four WE-CARE domains indicated that the concepts they measure were related but distinct.


CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest that WE-CARE provides a reliable and valid measure of parents' well-being and treatment satisfaction related to their child's diabetes. While these results show promise, additional validation of WE-CARE is warranted.
Cappelleri
Joseph C
JC
Pfizer Global Research and Development, Groton, CT, USA. joseph.c.cappelleri@pfizer.com
Gerber
Robert A
RA
Quattrin
Teresa
T
Deutschmann
Rosemarie
R
Luo
Xuemei
X
Arbuckle
Robert
R
Abetz
Linda
L
D000328:Adult; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States