"Caregiver Strain Index" validity and reliability in Turkish society.

OBJECTIVE The Caregiver Strain İndex (CSI) made up of 13 items was developed by Robinson (1983) and assesses the subjective care load of the caregiver. This study was conducted to evaluate its validity and reliability for Turkish society. DESIGN A cross-sectional descriptive study. PARTICIPANTS 132 family members providing care for cancer patients. INTERVENTION CSI was adopted for Turkey and administered twice via face-to- face interviews to 132 family members providing care for cancer patients from the Day Patient Unit of Ege University hospital. The content validity of the "Caregiver Strain Index" Kendall analysis was used while Pearson's moment Correlation Coefficient was applied for the test reset reliability of the scale and Cronbach's Alpha Interpretation statistical analysis tests for internal consistency and rotated factor loading of items of the scale. RESULTS Validity of the index was found to be 0.41 and test-retest reliability 0.75. While the Cronbach's alpha value of the index for first administration was 0.77, it was found to be 0.73 for the second administration. CONCLUSIONS At the end of our study, validity and reliability of the index were established, indicating utility in studies for assessing the care load of individuals providing care to cancer patients in Turkish society.