The Impact-on-Family Scale: a test of invariance across culture.

OBJECTIVE To test the cultural invariance of the Impact-on-Family Scale in order to make cross-cultural comparisons. METHODS The Italian version of the scale was administered to mothers of children with chronic illnesses. Factorial invariance was examined to investigate whether the four factors found with the original United States (U.S.) scale could be replicated. RESULTS The results clearly demonstrate the replicability of the first three factors, Financial Burden, Familial/Social Impact, and Personal Strain. In addition, internal consistency and the homogeneity of the items of the corresponding scales are satisfactory. However, the fourth factor, Mastery, could not be replicated, and the reliability of the corresponding scale is poor. Italian mothers scored significantly lower on the Financial Burden and on the Familial/Social Impact dimension, compared to the American sample. CONCLUSIONS Three of the four factors of the Impact-on-Family Scale are useful for cross-cultural comparisons between U.S. and Italian samples.