title: Development and psychometric properties of ECPICID-AVC to measure informal caregivers' skills when caring for older stroke survivors at home.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Informal caregivers provide a significant part of the total care needed by dependent older people poststroke. Although informal care is often the preferred option of those who provide and those who receive informal care, informal caregivers often report lack of preparation to take care of older dependent people. This article outlines the development and psychometric testing of informal caregivers' skills when providing care to older people after a stroke - ECPICID-AVC.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective psychometric instrument validation study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eleven experts participated in a focus group in order to delineate, develop and validate the instrument. Data were gathered among adult informal caregivers (n = 186) living in the community in Northern Portugal from August 2013 to January 2014.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 32-item scale describes several aspects of informal caregiver's skills. The scale has eight factors: skill to feed/hydrate by nasogastric feeding, skill to assist the person in personal hygiene, skill to assist the person for transferring, skill to assist the person for positioning, skill to provide technical aids, skill to assist the person to use the toilet, skill to feed/hydrate and skill to provide technical aids for dressing/undressing. Analysis demonstrated adequate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.83) and good temporal stability 0.988 (0.984-0.991).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The psychometric properties of the measurement tool showed acceptable results allowing its implementation in clinical practice by the nursing community staff for evaluating practical skills in informal caregivers when providing care to older stroke survivors living at home.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.
authors.forename: Odete
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Araújo
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Lage
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cabrita
authors.affiliation: Research and Education Unit on Ageing (UNIFAI), Institute for the Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Laetitia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Teixeira
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017028:Caregivers; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011174:Portugal; D011594:Psychometrics; D020521:Stroke / Q000451:nursing*
keywords: informal care; nursing; older people; psychometrics; reliability; self-care; stroke; validity