title: The needs of siblings of children with a life-threatening illness, part 2: Psychometric validation of the IBesFEMS.
abstract: Life-threatening illnesses in children have a significant impact on the lives of their brothers and sisters. Consequently, special attention must be paid to the specific needs of these siblings to help them cope with their situations. To address this issue, we developed an inventory of the needs of the adolescent siblings of severely ill children, the Inventaire des Besoins de la Fratrie d'Enfants Malades Sévèrement (IBesFEMS) [Needs Inventory for Siblings of Critically Ill Children]. The present article describes a preliminary validation study of this new instrument.
  
  
  
  In a prospective cohort study, the 48-item instrument was administered via a website or paper to 58 siblings.
  
  
  
  Our study revealed that the measure has an estimated internal consistency of 0.96 and a temporal stability intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.86 (p < 0.01). Its convergence validity is also satisfactory.
  
  
  
  Our findings suggest that the IBesFEMS is highly relevant for pediatric palliative care clinicians and researchers. Future studies should investigate its factorial structure and predictive validities.
authors.affiliation: Faculté des Sciences de l'Éducation,Université Laval,Québec,Canada.
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Olivier d'avignon
authors.affiliation: École de Service Social,Université Laval,Québec,Canada.
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dumont
authors.affiliation: Faculté des Sciences de l'Éducation,Université Laval,Québec,Canada.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Valois
authors.affiliation: Departments of Oncology and Medicine,McGill University,Montreal,Québec,Canada.
authors.forename: S Robin
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020380:Needs Assessment; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D035781:Siblings / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Needs; Palliative care; Pediatric; Questionnaire development; Siblings