Validation of the Malay Version of Zarit Burden Interview (MZBI)

Abstract

Background: Caregiver burden is an important outcome commonly investigated in both observational and interventional literatures associated with caregiving of patients. Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) is the oldest and most widely used measure for assessment of caregiver burden. Since the publication of the original version in 1980, various translated and shorter revised versions of the ZBI in multiple languages have been produced. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Malay version of Zarit Burden Interview (MZBI) for assessment of the caregiver burden among the local family caregivers of cancer patients. Methods: In total, 50 family caregivers of cancer patients in a government tertiary hospital in Sarawak were recruited in this cross-sectional study using non-random sampling method. The caregivers were given the MZBI scale, followed by the Malay version of Center for Epidemiologic Studies – Depression (MCES-D) scale and English version of Zarit Burden Interview (EZBI) scale. Statistical analyses were performed to assess the reliability and validity of the MZBI. Results: The MZBI demonstrated good reliability with high internal consistency (α = 0.898) and split-half correlation of 0.912, and significant positive correlation with MCES-D (rs = 0.58, p < 0.01) and EZBI (rs = 0.84, p < 0.01). A score of 22 was selected as the suitable cut-off score for MZBI scale in the local population based on ROC curve with the area under the curve of 0.786 (CI 0.658 – 0.914, p = 0.001). At the score of 22, the sensitivity and specificity of the MZBI were 70.8% and 69.2% respectively. Conclusion: The MZBI demonstrated fairly good psychometric properties in assessing the caregiver burden in local Malaysian population. Further study on the factorial structure of the MZBI would be useful to enhance the overall validity of the scale in the context of caregiver burden assessment. Please click PDF below to download the full paper...