Psychometric properties of a resilience scale in family caregivers of older adults

Abstract

Caring for an elder relative has been studied not only as a stress generating circumstance and a loss of well-being for the caregiver but also, from the perspective of positive psychology, as the study of caregivers’ dispositions to respond to dif-ficulties experienced in a resilient manner. The aim of this study was to test the construct validity of a resilience inventory employing exploratory and confirmatory procedures. To that end, data were collected from two independent samples of family caregivers of older adults in the city of Hermosillo, Mexico: 125 caregivers aged 19 to 73 years (Mage = 47.8, SD = 12) to perform exploratory factor analyses and 160 caregivers aged 19 to 82 years (Mage = 48.7, SD = 13) to conduct confirmatory factor analyses. The analyses revealed two clear and statistically robust dimensions in the RESI with 12 items: instrumental resilience and emotional resilience. This study shows that RESI is a valid instrument to assess resilience in a Mexican population of family caregivers of older adults.