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medRxiv
MEDRXIV
medRxiv
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

10.1101/2024.08.28.24312743
preprint
1
Article
Validation of dementia care-related scales among informal caregivers of Latinos with dementia or mild cognitive impairment
Perales-Puchalt Jaime http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1013-7847

Checa Irene
Espejo Begoña
Martín Carbonell Marta de la C.
Fracachán-Cabrera Mónica
Baker Christina
Ramírez-Mantilla Mariana
Mendez-Asaro Prisca
Zimmer Malissia
Williams Kristine
Allen Greiner K.
Zaudke Jana
Arreaza Hector
Velez-Uribe Idaly
Moore Henry
Sepulveda-Rivera Vanessa
Meyer Kylie
Benton Donna
Kittle Krystal
Gillen Lindsey
Burns Jeffrey M
29 8 2024
2024.08.28.24312743https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
http://medrxiv.org/lookup/doi/10.1101/2024.08.28.24312743
nihpp-2024.08.28.24312743.pdf
Abstract

Objectives

To test the psychometric properties of several dementia care-related scales among Latinos in the US.

Design

We leveraged secondary baseline data from a one-arm mHealth trial on dementia caregiver support. We included 100 responses for caregiver-focused scales and 88 responses for care recipient-focused scales. Scales included the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire Severity and Distress scales, six-item Zarit Burden Inventory, Ten-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, Geriatric Depression Inventory, Quality of Life in Alzheimer’s Disease, and Single-item Satisfaction With Life Scale. We calculated concurrent validity using Pearson and Spearman correlations and expected correlations amongst all variables in line with the Stress Process Framework. We calculated internal consistency reliability using Cronbach’s alpha.

Results

All concurrent validity correlations followed the expected directionality, with 19/21 inter-scale correlations in the total sample reaching statistical significance (p<0.05), and 17/21 reaching at least a low correlation (0.3). Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.832 to 0.879 in all scales in the total sample.

Conclusion

The English and Spanish caregiver-administered scales tested in this manuscript have good psychometric properties.

Clinical Implications

The dementia care-related scales are now appropriately available for use among US Latinos in research and clinical contexts.
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