The Revised Scale for Caregiving Self-Efficacy: Reliability and Validity Studies

TLDR

The Revised Scale for Caregiving Self‑Efficacy assesses three domains: obtaining respite, responding to disruptive patient behaviors, and controlling upsetting thoughts. The authors revised, extended, and evaluated the scale using two caregiver samples (N = 169 and 145) of families caring for cognitively impaired older adults. The revised scale demonstrates strong internal consistency, adequate test–retest reliability, and construct validity through its associations with depression, anxiety, anger, perceived social support, and speech‑expressed criticism, indicating its usefulness for research and clinical practice.

Abstract

Two samples of family caregivers (Study 1: N = 169; Study 2: N = 145) of cognitively impaired older adults were used to revise, extend, and evaluate a measure of perceived self-efficacy for caregiving tasks. The Revised Scale for Caregiving Self-Efficacy measures 3 domains of caregiving self-efficacy: Obtaining Respite, Responding to Disruptive Patient Behaviors, and Controlling Upsetting Thoughts. The 3 subscales show strong internal consistency and adequate test–retest reliability. Construct validity is supported by relationships between these 3 facets of perceived caregiving efficacy and depression, anxiety, anger, perceived social support, and criticism expressed in speech samples. The Revised Scale for Caregiving Self-Efficacy has potential uses for both research and clinical purposes.