title: The Spanish Version of the Mutuality Scale: evidence for the cultural equivalence of mutuality in Mexican American families.
abstract: Mutuality, the positive quality of the relationship between the family caregiver and care receiver, is an important variable in family care for frail older adults. It has been shown to be associated with lower levels of caregiver strain and higher levels of caregiving rewards. However, the concept and measure of mutuality were developed with non-Hispanic White samples. The purpose of this article is to describe the development of an instrument-the Spanish Version of the Mutuality Scale. We determined for Mexican American families: (a) the functional equivalence of mutuality, (b) a comparative descriptive framework for mutuality, and (c) the language equivalence of the Mutuality Scale and the Spanish Version of the Mutuality Scale. Evaluating mutuality levels for Mexican American older adults and caregivers, especially in view of their strong cultural norm of familism, is essential.
authors.affiliation: ENCASA Research Project, The University of Arizona, College of Nursing, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0203, USA. jcrist@nursing.arizona.edu
authors.forename: Janice D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Crist
authors.forename: Socorro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Escandón
authors.forename: Barbara J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: Patricia G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Archbold
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005190:Family / Q000208:ethnology*; D017144:Focus Groups; D016330:Frail Elderly / Q000523:psychology*; D006701:Home Nursing / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D016901:Intergenerational Relations / Q000208:ethnology*; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000208:ethnology*; D019303:Multilingualism; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014175:Translating; D014481:United States