Subjective burden of family caregivers with Turkish immigration background in Germany : Validation of the Turkish version of the Burden Scale for Family Caregivers.
BACKGROUND
Subjective burden is a central variable for describing the situation of family caregivers. Up to now the subjective burden of family caregivers with Turkish immigration background in Germany has not been quantitatively investigated.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was the validation of the Turkish version of the Burden Scale for Family Caregivers (BSFCtr).


METHODS
In order to measure the subjective burden of family caregivers with Turkish immigration background, the BSFC was translated into Turkish. The internal consistency of the 28-item BSFCtrwas calculated using Cronbach's alpha. The difficulty indices and discriminating powers of the items were analyzed. The construct validity was examined by using three hypotheses of association.


RESULTS
The cross-sectional study was conducted on 49 family caregivers with a Turkish immigration background in Germany who care for older, chronically ill persons. Cronbach's alpha for the total scale was 0.89. The caregiver burden was greater when the care recipient had substantial regular nursing care needs and when the spouse or partner had assumed the care as compared with the children or children-in-law. Caregiver burden significantly increased with the extent of psychosomatic symptoms of the caregiver.


CONCLUSIONS
The Turkish version of the BSFC proved to be a reliable and valid measure for determining the subjective burden of family caregivers.
Center of Excellence for Epidemiology and Health Services Research for Healthcare Professionals (CVcare), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Martinistraße 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany. nazan.ulusoy@gmx.de.|Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany. nazan.ulusoy@gmx.de.
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Ulusoy
Centre of Health Services Research in Medicine, Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Friedrich‑Alexander‑Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
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Graessel
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D014175:Translating; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology
Aged; Chronic illness; Cross-sectional study; Home nursing; Validity