Confirmatory factor analysis of the familism scale in a sample of dementia caregivers

Abstract

Familism is considered to be a cultural value shared by different Hispanic groups. The familism scale (FS) was developed by Sabogal, Marín, Otero-Sabogal, Marín, and Perez-Stable (1987, Hispanic familism and acculturation: What changes and what doesn't? Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, vol. 9, pp. 397–412) as a self-report measure of this construct, and three dimensions were obtained through exploratory factor analysis: familial obligations, perceived support from the family, and family as referents.

Objectives and method: The purpose of the present study was to assess the underlying factor structure of the FS using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in a sample of 135 Spanish caregivers.

Results: The original model did not fit the data well, and five items with factor loadings below 0.40 were trimmed. The fit indexes for the remaining items suggest a good fit of this model and an acceptable internal consistency index.

Conclusion: The results suggest that the modified factor model for the FS has acceptable psychometric properties in a sample of dementia caregivers.

Keywords:

• caregiving
• familism
• culture
• confirmatory factor analysis

Acknowledgements

The preparation of this article was supported in part by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Education (Grant SEJ2006-02489/PSIC, Andrés Losada, PI) and the Spanish Ministry of Work and Social Affairs (Grant 40/06, Cecilia Peñacoba, PI).