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Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 3/2006

01-03-2006 | ORIGINAL PAPER

The “Carers’ needs assessment for Schizophrenia”

An instrument to assess the needs of relatives caring for schizophrenia patients

Authors: Johannes Wancata, Monika Krautgartner, Julia Berner, Sabrina Scumaci, Marion Freidl, Rainer Alexandrowicz, Hans Rittmannsberger

Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology | Issue 3/2006

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Abstract

Objective

For the purpose of service planning, an instrument was developed for the systematic assessment of interventions needed by the caregivers of schizophrenia patients.

Method

The development of this instrument was based on in-depth interviews and focus groups. It consists of 18 areas describing common problems of schizophrenia caregivers. For each of these problem areas several possible interventions are offered. Concurrent validity, inter-rater and retest reliability were tested among 50 caregivers.

Results

The kappa values for the inter-rater reliability are predominantly excellent (kappa > 0.75). The values for the retest reliability show a wide range between excellent (kappa > 0.75) and fair agreement (kappa 0.40–0.60). The significant correlations found between summary scores of this new instrument and several sub-scales of the Family Problem Questionnaire support the assumption that the concurrent validity is satisfactory.

Conclusion

These results suggest that this instrument is both valid and reliable.
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Metadata
Title
The “Carers’ needs assessment for Schizophrenia”
An instrument to assess the needs of relatives caring for schizophrenia patients
Authors
Johannes Wancata
Monika Krautgartner
Julia Berner
Sabrina Scumaci
Marion Freidl
Rainer Alexandrowicz
Hans Rittmannsberger
Publication date
01-03-2006
Publisher
Steinkopff-Verlag
Published in
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology / Issue 3/2006
Print ISSN: 0933-7954
Electronic ISSN: 1433-9285
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-005-0021-3

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