Inception of an Instrument on Health Capability of Family Caregivers

The health capability of family caregivers has already been studied through eight factors: physical and psychological functioning, lifestyle value, self-efficacy towards health services, family support, social capital, socio-economic conditions and access to health services. Our aim was to identify new factors. Family caregivers of stroke victims living at home were recruited in the Lorraine region (France; n=8) and Luxembourg (n=6). Semi-structured interviews about their health statuses, how they currently take care of their health, and the internal resources they need to achieve optimal health were conducted face-to-face. Verbatim transcriptions were open-coded and grouped into new factors of health capability. Items reflecting the main idea of the categories were formulated. Seven women and seven men (age 63.6±10.1) participated. Statements were regrouped together into new ways, giving rise to seven new emergent factors: health knowledge, health self-efficacy, health value, life skills, health decision-making, motivation, and attitude towards the future. Of them, 76 items were generated, 51 reflecting generic abilities while 26 being specific to family caregiving. Content analysis of these factors first allows guiding the preparation of innovative supports to promote health capability. Second, this list can serve as a basis to elaborate a guide to which clinicians can refer to, in orienting family caregivers according to their needs. Further research is needed to complete the validation of the HCFC instrument.