Psychometric Validation of the Heart Failure Caregiver Questionnaire (HF-CQ®).
The Heart Failure Caregiver Questionnaire (HF-CQ®) was developed to assess subjective outcomes of heart failure caregivers. The HF-CQ®comprises 21 questions on three domains, namely physical, emotional/psychological and lifestyle. The objective of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the HF-CQ®.



Patients (n = 150) with heart failure and their primary caregivers (n = 150) were recruited from 11 sites in USA. Caregivers completed the HF-CQ®and additional questionnaires, namely Caregiver Reaction Assessment, Work Productivity and Activity Impairment questionnaire, EuroQol-5 domain, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Patient-completed Global Impression of Severity, construct validity, concurrent validity, reliability and responsiveness of the HF-CQ®were also assessed.



In the physical and lifestyle domains, all items showed acceptable validity. No high correlations between HF-CQ®scores and other caregiver-completed instruments, including the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Work Productivity and Activity Impairment questionnaire, EuroQol-5 domain or Caregiver Reaction Assessment, were reported. The intra-class correlation coefficient exceeded the threshold for reliability (>0.7) across the physical well-being (0.785), emotional/psychological (0.797), lifestyle (0.787) and total scores (0.850), indicating acceptable reliability. Internal consistency results using Cronbach's alpha showed the total aggregate score of 0.942 to be reliable. In the responsiveness analyses, each of the three scales and the total score showed responsiveness to changes defined by the Caregiver Global Impression of Severity. The overall caregiver burden score increased with increased severity of illness in the cared-for patients.



The study provides initial evidence for the acceptable validity of the HF-CQ®as an instrument to measure heart failure caregiver burden.
Division of Nursing Science, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.|Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.|Department of Cardiology, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.|Program in Nursing Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
Anna
A
Strömberg
Adelphi Values, Cheshire, UK.
Nicola
N
Bonner
Adelphi Values, Cheshire, UK.
Laura
L
Grant
Adelphi Values, Cheshire, UK.
Bryan
B
Bennett
College of Nursing, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
Misook L
ML
Chung
Department of Social and Welfare Studies, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
Tiny
T
Jaarsma
Research Group Nursing Diagnostics, Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Marie Louise
ML
Luttik
Cardiovascular Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Eldrin F
EF
Lewis
Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland. frederico.calado@novartis.com.
Frederico
F
Calado
Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland.
Celine
C
Deschaseaux
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*
Caregiver Burden; Caregiver Reaction Assessment; Heart Failure Patient; Informal Caregiver; Standardise Effect Size