Development and psychometric evaluation of the needs assessment questionnaire for family caregivers of end-of-life older adults in home hospice care

As care moves from disease-centered to family-centered, meeting the needs of caregivers becomes more and more important. The study was to develop and validate a family caregiver needs assessment questionnaire for home hospice care of the end-of-life older adult in Mainland China. Based on the guidance of Harmony Nursing Theory, 48 initial questionnaire items were initially drafted through literature review, interviews with 12 family caregivers of the end-of-life older adult, and group discussions among research team members. Two rounds of expert review and small sample testing resulted in a 36-item prediction questionnaire. From October to December 2023, 223 family caregivers of the end-of-life older adult in Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province were selected to verify the questionnaire. The final questionnaire included 34 items. With a cumulative variance contribution rate of 71.281%, the exploratory factor analysis identified six common factors. The questionnaire's total Cronbach coefficient was 0.910, and the retest reliability was 0.868. Its content validity index was 0.982, and the items' content validity index ranged from 0.83 to 1.00. The questionnaire items compilation and screening methods are scientifically reliable. In the future, healthcare can utilize the questionnaire to fully assess the needs of family caregivers of older adult patients end-of-life at home.