The Reliability and Validity of Family Burden Questionnaire / 아동간호학회지

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to test the reliability and validity of Family Burden Questionnaire. METHOD: The subjects were 156 caregivers of children with acute or chronic disease. To test the reliability, internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha coefficient was analyzed, and factor analysis, known-group technique, and concurrent validity were utilized for validity test. RESULT: Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the tool was .89. Six factors were identified and explained 58.7% of the total variance. Through analysis using known-group technique, the difference of family burden between acute and chronic disease groups was statistically significant(t= -4.09, p <.001). Correlations with mood state, other family burden score by Family Burden Interview Schedule, quality of life, and health symptoms were also relatively high and statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Family Burden Questionnaire showed a relatively high validity and reliability to measure the burden of caregivers caring patients with various chronic conditions in Korea. For the further study, it may be reconsidered to identify the factor structure of the Family Burden Questionnaire with the various subjects from different age groups.

Experience of Siblings of Children with Cancer / 아동간호학회지

Illness is a situational crisis which affects entire family members. Children have different experiences and responses when their sibling has a cancer. There are many studies on sibling experiences to childhood cancer which have many problems in the USA. The main purpose of this study is to describe sibling experiences to childhood cancer accurately and coprehensively by collecting data from sibling to provide the data to develop nursing interventions for the families with childhood cancer. The data was collected from October 1 to November 6, 1995. A total of ten siblings with childhood cancer were interviewed. The meaningful contents were classified and categorized to four areas. Theses areas include knowledge and perception related to illness, changes in family life, changes in school life, and siblings' marturation. The results of this study were as follows : 1. Knowledge and perception related to childhood cancer : Children had limited knowledge about illness and expressed the desire to know more about sibling's illness. 2. Changes in family and school life : Children expressed loneness, emptiness, sadness, depression about separation with the mother and sibling, family mood change, leisure activities and financial difficulties. Many children reported that their school performance had suffered since sibling's illness. 3. Maturation of children : Some positive outcomes related to having a sibling with a cancer are maturation, increased affection for the sibling, empathy for their parents. The results of this study indicate that it is important to develop comprehensive nursing intervention programs for the families with a childhood cancer.