Subjective burden of family caregivers with Turkish immigration background in Germany : Validation of the Turkish version of the Burden Scale for Family Caregivers.

BACKGROUND: Subjective burden is a central variable for describing the situation of family caregivers. Up to now the subjective burden of family caregivers with Turkish immigration background in Germany has not been quantitatively investigated. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was the validation of the Turkish version of the Burden Scale for Family Caregivers (BSFCtr). MATERIAL AND METHODS: In order to measure the subjective burden of family caregivers with Turkish immigration background, the BSFC was translated into Turkish. The internal consistency of the 28-item BSFCtr was calculated using Cronbach's alpha. The difficulty indices and discriminating powers of the items were analyzed. The construct validity was examined by using three hypotheses of association. RESULTS: The cross-sectional study was conducted on 49 family caregivers with a Turkish immigration background in Germany who care for older, chronically ill persons. Cronbach's alpha for the total scale was 0.89. The caregiver burden was greater when the care recipient had substantial regular nursing care needs and when the spouse or partner had assumed the care as compared with the children or children-in-law. Caregiver burden significantly increased with the extent of psychosomatic symptoms of the caregiver. CONCLUSION: The Turkish version of the BSFC proved to be a reliable and valid measure for determining the subjective burden of family caregivers.