A psychometric evaluation of the functional assessment of chronic illness therapy-palliative care (FACIT-Pal) scale with palliative care samples in three African countries.
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| Abstract | CONTEXT: Although sub-Saharan Africa suffers the greatest burden of progressive illness, there are few outcome measures with adequate properties to measure needs and outcomes. OBJECTIVES: To examine the psychometric properties of the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Palliative Care (FACIT-Pal) among people receiving palliative care in three African countries. METHODS: Adult patients in South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda gave self-reported data to the core FACIT-G plus Pal subscale. Data were subjected to factor analysis, corrected item-total correlations, and Cronbach's α for full scale and subscales. RESULTS: The resulting four factors bear a strong similarity to the original Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General in our sample of 461: physical symptoms, functional well-being, friends and family, and emotional well-being. Cronbach's α for the full 27-item scale was 0.90 and for the physical well-being, social/family well-being, emotional well-being, and functional well-being subscales, it was 0.83, 0.78, 0.80, and 0.87, respectively. Varimax rotation of the 19-item FACIT-Pal scale showed three clear interpretable factors. Factor 1, a sense of purpose and meaning in life; Factor 2, physical symptoms; and Factor 3, social integration. For the 19-item FACIT-Pal, Cronbach's α was 0.81, and individual corrected item-total correlations ranged from 0.24 to 0.61. Cronbach's α for the eight items comprising Factor 1 (meaning in life) was 0.83. For the other two factors, it was 0.70 (physical symptoms, six items) and 0.68 (social integration, three items). CONCLUSION: The FACIT-Pal is a reliable multidimensional scale for people with life-limiting incurable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa, and the observed factors are interpretable and clinically meaningful.
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| Authors | Richard Siegert, Lucy Selman, Irene J Higginson, Zippy Ali, Richard A Powell, Eve Namisango, Faith Mwangi-Powell, Liz Gwyther, Nancy Gikaara, Richard Harding |
| Journal | Journal of pain and symptom management (J Pain Symptom Manage) Vol. 48 Issue 5 Pg. 983-91 (Nov 2014) ISSN: 1873-6513 [Electronic] United States |
| PMID | 24742786 (Publication Type: Evaluation Study, Journal Article) |
| Copyright | Copyright © 2014 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. |
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