A pilot study on the Spanish version of the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale (PAIS-SR) with carers of people with Parkinson's disease.
Mari Carmen Portillo, Leire Ambrosio, Raquel Lanas Martín and 3 others
PMID 31367453WHAT IT FOUND
Twenty-one Spanish carers of people with Parkinson's disease completed a new Spanish version of a 46-item adjustment questionnaire without missing answers.
Their responses were consistent enough across related questions to support further testing.
Key findings
01Twenty-one of the 29 invited family carers took part, and none of the questionnaire responses were missing.
02Most participants found the scale relevant, but three said some items were difficult to understand, two said the scale was long, and one found an item irrelevant.
03The scale's internal consistency was acceptable, with Cronbach's alpha 0.8 for the total score and slightly over 0.7 for all domains.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only 21 carers from one primary health centre in northern Spain took part, and most were female spouses, so the results may not apply to other carers. This was a pilot of a translated questionnaire, not a completed validation; the authors say the results do not guarantee good psychometric properties in a larger PD carer population. The study did not test whether using the questionnaire changes care, adjustment, or patient or carer outcomes. Some participants found items difficult, two said the scale was long, and one found an item irrelevant; private domains such as domestic environment and sexual relationships may be hard to use. The sample was small and from a single locality, so the scale's performance may differ across Spanish-speaking regions and carer groups.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the Government of Navarra and the Carlos III Institute of Health in Spain. The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat the Spanish PAIS-SR as a validated clinical assessment or assume it improves care for carers. It was a 21-person pilot, and the authors say the results do not guarantee the scale's psychometric properties in a larger population.