Fundamental Measurement of Functional Caregiving in Rehabiliation Medicine

The purpose of this research was to develop an objective, linear measure of mothers’ confidence to care for children assisted with medical technology in their homes. Three technologies were addressed, namely, trachesotomy, tracheostomy and ventilator, and BiPAP/CPAP. All mothers (N=53) were from Chicago, USA and primary caregivers for children assisted with medical technologies. The theoretical construct for this research is Functional Caregiving (FC) and survey methods were guided by a caregiver content matrix validated by content and clinical reviews. Field testing with target mothers provided initial raw scores, which were linearized with a Rasch model for rating scales. Raw scores were first analyzed with Principal Components Analysis, and then Tracheostomy item and mothers' item responses were transformed to an objective, equal-interval scale with a Rasch model. Measurement model results show sample separation for the Tracheostomy caregiving scale was 2.66 and reliability, .88. Model fit results were adequate and residual analysis did not identify major dimensionality threats. Although sample size was small, transformation of raw scores to linear scale appears very promising. Further research should attempt to replicate these results with larger samples, as well as cross-validate FC with a competency construct.