Caregiver satisfaction with out-patient oncology services: utility of the FAMCARE instrument and development of the FAMCARE-6

To evaluate caregivers' experience of oncology services for ambulatory patients and to develop a short instrument (FAMCARE-6) suitable for computerised administration in the clinical setting. A sample of 234 caregivers recruited from 388 ambulatory oncology patients completed a computerised version of the 20-item family satisfaction with advanced cancer care (FAMCARE) instrument, which was originally developed for use in palliative care settings. Caregivers reported generally high satisfaction with all aspects of ambulatory oncology services: overall score; mean, 3.96 (SD, 0.67); information giving, 3.88 (0.78); physical patient care, 4.00 (0.71); availability of care, 3.89 (0.77); and psychosocial care, 4.05 (0.72), from a possible score of 5. Factor analyses identified a single factor structure; the items were reduced to six (FAMCARE-6), which yielded a scale with adequate psychometric properties (completion rates over 90% for every item, correlation of 0.7 or above with the factor identified in the individual item factor analysis, and internal reliability of alpha = 0.85). The overall mean score was 3.91 (SD, 0.73) for the FAMCARE-6. FAMCARE-6 can be used to assess caregiver satisfaction with ambulatory oncology services and may be suitable to be included as part of a computerised screening system for the psychological care of oncology patients.