Assessment of burden in partners of stroke patients with the sense of competence questionnaire.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The burden of caregiving can be harmful to both carers' and patients' functional health, but a specific instrument to assess the burden of caregiving as experienced by carers of stroke patients is not yet available. The Sense of Competence Questionnaire (SCQ), reliable and valid among caregivers of dementia patients, was evaluated on its metric properties in a population of partners of stroke patients. METHODS As part of a multicenter study on quality of care, SCQ burden scores of partners and functional health of patients were assessed 6 months after stroke (group A; n=166). In this study group, the reliability in terms of homogeneity, the construct validity, and the clinical validity of the SCQ were evaluated. The test-retest reliability was assessed in a separate group (group B; n=47). The feasibility was examined in both study groups. RESULTS The reliability of the total SCQ score was good (Chronbach's alpha coefficient=0.83; intraclass correlation coefficient=0.93). Statistical support for construct validity was shown by principal-components analysis. Clinical validity was supported by the association between higher SCQ burden scores and patients' impaired functional health: cognitive function (P=.03), disability (P=.10), handicap (P<.01), and quality of life (P=.02). CONCLUSIONS The SCQ is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing burden of caregiving as experienced by partners of stroke patients. It is suitable for use in cross-sectional stroke studies and may help to identify partners at risk for high levels of burden and caregiving-related problems.