Promoting and Measuring Family Caregiver Self-Efficacy in Caregiver-Physician Interactions

Abstract

This article describes the development of a 5-item scale that assesses family caregivers' self-efficacy in communicating with physicians about ill family members (Perceived Efficacy in Caregiver-Physician Interactions–PECPI) in the context of an evaluation study of an online training in health care communication skills for caregivers. A national sample of 197 self-identified family caregivers participated in an online webinar and completed a brief evaluation instrument before and immediately after the training. Results indicated that the webinar was effective in increasing perceived self-efficacy and self-reported knowledge about and level of preparation for medical visits. Principal component analysis indicates that the PECPI is unidimensional with a Cronbach's alpha of .91.

Keywords:

• caregivers
• self-efficacy
• health education
• Internet

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the National Family Caregivers Association for their collaboration in this project.