Reliability and validity of family burden scale of diseases in advanced schistosomiasis

Objective To evaluate the reliability and validity of family burden scale of diseases (FBS)in advanced schistosomiasis, so as to provide scientific basis for the selection of suitable tools for the measurement of family burden of the disease. Methods The family burden of patients with advanced schistosomiasis was estimated by interviewing their family members with FBS in Hanshou County of Hunan Province and Jiangling County of Hubei Province, and the reliability and validity of the scale were evaluated. Results A total of 318 family members were interviewed. The split-half reliability (with a split-half coefficient of 0.93)and the internal consistency (Cronbach α coefficients of the 6 dimensions ranged from 0. 69 to 0. 75)were satisfying; the convergent and discriminative validity were high with the test success rates of 100% and 97.22%,respectively. The percentages of floor effect and ceiling effect in most dimensions were not significant except in 2 dimensions namely physical health and mental health of family members (with the percentages of floor effect of 60.06% and 47.17%, respectively). Conclusion FBS is appropriate for estimating family burden of patients with advanced schistosomiasis, but some items need to be improved according to the specific conditions of the disease. Key words: Advanced schistosomiasis;  Family burden scale of diseases;  Reliability;  Validity;  Ceiling effect;  Floor effect