Psychometric properties of a Chinese version of the critical care family needs inventory

Abstract

The Critical Care Family Needs Inventory (CCFNI) was developed to measure family needs of patients with critical illness. However, testing of the CCFNI has not been undertaken for a Chinese‐speaking population. The purpose of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of a Chinese version of the CCFNI in a sample of Chinese family members of critically ill patients. Translation into Chinese and reverse translation were completed before administering the questionnaire. The findings show that the Chinese version addressed adequately the original concepts and dimensions, and demonstrated a high level of equivalence with the original version. High internal consistencies (α = .80–.92) of the scale and its subscales were found. Principal components factor analysis supported the existence of a five‐factor structure. The Chinese version also demonstrated high sensitivity to family needs in terms of severity of illness and satisfactory correlations with theoretically related constructs. These findings support the potential of the Chinese version to be used as a diagnostic tool in assessment of family needs of Chinese patients. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 28:474–487, 2005