Translation and adaptation of Shared Care Instrument-Revised for the older adults and their caregivers in Taiwan

Background: The aging population in Taiwan has resulted in an increase in the dependent population and the care load on caregivers. Shared care is an interpersonal process in which support is "traded" to "handle" chronic illnesses by home-care patients and family caregivers. The scale of shared care has received little attention in the Taiwanese cultural context. Thus, this study examined the reliability and validity of the Taiwanese versions of Shared Care Instrument-Revised (SCI-R). Methods: The content validity, construct validity, and discriminant validity were used to test the validity of the translated questionnaires. The Cronbach's alpha was used to examine reliability. A total of 500 older adults and their caregivers were recruited from three counties in Taiwan. Results: The reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the scale were within the acceptable range. The Cronbach's alpha was between 0.838 and 0.95. However, the scale's reliability was higher than that of the original version. This might be because of the inclusion of participants with less severe diseases than the participants in the original study, high social expectations in the Chinese traditional culture, and a large number of similar items. Future research should simplify the items and consider adopting diverse participant selection criteria. Conclusions: The results of this study can be used to understand shared care in Taiwan.