BackgroundCurrently, information on factors associated with anxiety in family caregivers of children with chronic diseases is unavailable, indicating a significant gap in the literature. Therefore, this study aims to identify the psychosocial and sociodemographic variables associated with anxiety in family caregivers of children with chronic diseases.MethodsIn 2018, a nonprobability sample of 446 family caregivers was recruited at the National Institute of Health in Mexico City. The participants completed a sociodemographic variable questionnaire, clinical questions, and 18 psychosocial assessment scales, including a scale to assess family caregiver anxiety.ResultsFamily caregiver anxiety was correlated with almost all psychosocial variables and one out of three clinical variables but with none of the sociodemographic variables. Furthermore, a multiple linear regression model with five psychosocial variables was established to predict family caregiver anxiety.ConclusionsSome psychosocial variables have effects on caregiver anxiety that are relevant for interventions. Clinical interventions should be implemented based on the psychosocial variables associated with family caregiver anxiety.

Chronic diseases in childhood can affect the physical and mental health of patients and their families. The objective of this study was to identify the sociodemographic and psychosocial factors that predict resilience in family caregivers of children with cancer and to define whether there are differences in the levels of resilience derived from these sociodemographic variables. Three hundred and thirty family caregivers of children with cancer, with an average age of 32.6 years were interviewed. The caregivers responded to a battery of tests that included a questionnaire of sociodemographic variables, the Measuring Scale of Resilience, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Inventory of Quality of Life, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, an interview of caregiver burden and the World Health Organization Well-Being Index. The main findings indicate that family caregivers of children with cancer reported high levels of resilience, which were associated positively with quality of life, psychological well-being and years of study and associated negatively with depression, anxiety and caregiver burden. The variables that predicted resilience in families of children with cancer were quality of life, psychological well-being, depression and number of children. Family caregivers who were married and Catholic showed higher resilience scores. We conclude that being a caregiver in a family with children with cancer is associated with symptoms of anxiety and with depressive episodes. These issues can be overcome through family strength, well-being, quality of life and positive adaptation processes and mobilization of family resources.

Background Resilience to disease is a process of positive adaptation despite the loss of health, it involves the development of vitality and skills to overcome the negative effects of adversity, risks, and vulnerability caused by disease. In Mexico, cancer is the leading cause of death in children. Both the diagnosis and the treatment of childhood cancer affect the health of family caregivers. However, resilience is a personality trait that can be protective in these situations. Therefore, resilience is an important psychological construct to measure, evaluate and develop in specific populations and contexts. In Mexico, a scale to assess this trait has been developed. This study aimed to test the reliability and factor structure of the Mexican Measurement Scale of Resilience (RESI-M), describe its distribution, evaluate its relationship with sociodemographic variables, and verify its concurrent validity with psychological well-being, depression, anxiety and parental stress and its independence from social desirability. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted involving an intentional nonprobability sample of 330 family caregivers of children with cancer hospitalized at the National Institute of Health in Mexico City. The participants responded to a sociodemographic variables questionnaire, the Mexican Measurement Scale of Resilience RESI-M, and five other assessment scales. Results Overall internal consistency was very high (ordinal alpha = .976). The confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that the five-factor model had a close fit to the data: NFI = .970, CFI = .997, SRMR = .055, and RMSEA = .019. The distributions of the RESI-M total score followed a normal distribution. The RESI-M total score correlated positively with psychological well-being and negatively with depression, parental stress and anxiety. The overall RESI-M total score also correlated positively with age, but there was no difference in means between women and men. Resilience was independent of social desirability. Conclusions The RESI-M shows reliability and construct validity in family caregivers of children with cancer and does not show a bias in relation to social desirability.

BackgroundThe resilience to face disease is a process of positive adaptation despite the loss of health. It involves developing vitality and skills to overcome the negative effects of adversity, risks, and vulnerability caused by disease. In Mexico, the Mexican Resilience Measurement Scale (RESI-M) has been validated with a general population and has a five-factor structure. However, this scale does not allow evaluation of resilience in specific subpopulations, such as caregivers.MethodThis study investigated the psychometric properties of RESI-M in 446 family caregivers of children with chronic diseases. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed, internal consistency values were calculated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, and mean comparisons were determined using t-tests.ResultsThe expected five-factor model showed an adequate fit with the data based on a maximum likelihood test. The internal consistency for each factor ranged from .76 to .93, and the global internal consistency was .95. No average difference in RESI-M and its factors was found between women and men.ConclusionThe RESI-M showed internal consistency and its model of five correlated factors was valid among family caregivers of children with chronic diseases.

En el contexto del modelamiento de ecuaciones estructurales se manejan los conceptos de validez convergente y confiabilidad compuesta aplicados a los modelos de medida con ítems congenéricos. Este estudio metodológico tiene como objetivo revisar los puntos de corte estipulados para la Varianza Media Extraída (VME) cuando se usa para establecer la validez convergente de un modelo de medida. Por una parte, se consideró la gran semejanza entre los conceptos de validez convergente y confiabilidad por consistencia interna, al usarse los pesos de medida estandarizados para su estimación. Por otra parte, se analizó la relación entre el número de ítems del factor, la VME y los coeficientes omega y H. A efectos de simplificación, se manejó un peso de medida homogéneo en las demostraciones. Se observó un efecto muy grande del número de ítems, provocando un deterioro en la VME, aun manteniendo constante el mismo nivel de confiabilidad (coeficientes omega y H), y más acusado a mayor nivel de confiabilidad. Se concluye que valores de VME < .50 pueden reflejar niveles aceptables de validez convergente, dependiendo del número de ítems, si incluyen como criterios complementarios: pesos de medida estandarizados ≥ .50 y coeficientes omega y H ≥ .70.