Translation, Adaptation, and Criterion Validation of the Family Caregiver Assessment Tool for French-Speaking Cardiovascular Patients in Canada (FAM-CAM-Fr).
Tanya Mailhot, Zineb Bouaouina, Imène Khetir and 5 others
PMID 40528645WHAT IT FOUND
In 100 cardiovascular inpatients, the French caregiver FAM-CAM-Fr detected 58% of diagnosed delirium cases and rarely raised false alarms.
Use it to add family observations, not to replace nurse assessment.
Key findings
01The French FAM-CAM-Fr was developed through forward translation, blind back translation, committee review, and a pre-test with eight experts and ten family volunteers.
02Against DSM-5 diagnosis, the FAM-CAM-Fr detected 58% of delirium cases and correctly ruled out 92.6% of patients without delirium; against the nurse CAM, it detected 60% and correctly ruled out 93.8%.
03Of 100 patients, 19 had delirium, and 11 of those had a positive FAM-CAM-Fr score.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was done in one cardiology unit, so it may not apply to other settings or languages. Only family caregivers who had regular contact with the patient before hospitalization were included, so it may not work for less familiar caregivers. Patients may have had undiagnosed cognitive impairment, which can make hypoactive delirium harder to detect. Family caregivers received no training beyond unit pamphlets and tool instructions, so the low sensitivity may reflect that real-world condition. Only 19 patients had delirium, so the sensitivity estimate is imprecise.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The study was funded by Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Santé and had institutional support from the Montreal Heart Institute Foundation.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use the FAM-CAM-Fr as a stand-alone delirium screen. It detected 58% of diagnosed delirium cases against DSM-5 diagnosis, so a negative caregiver score does not rule out delirium.