Assessing the cultural appropriateness of the Finding Meaning Through Caregiving Scale for Korean caregivers

Before psychometric instruments can be used for populations other than those for whom they were originally developed, validation of cultural appropriateness is essential. This article describes the assessment of the cultural appropriateness of the Finding Meaning Through Caregiving Scale (FMTCS) with Korean female family caregivers. The FMTCS measures finding meaning among caregivers from an existential perspective and has three subscales: Loss/Powerlessness, Provisional Meaning, and Ultimate Meaning. The instrument's cultural appropriateness was examined through semistructured interviews with ten Korean-born female family caregivers, five caregivers living in Korea, and five living in the United States. The interview data are reported according to the three dimensions described by Flaherty and colleagues (1988): content, semantic, and conceptual equivalence. Although the majority of items of the FMTCS appeared applicable to Korean caregivers, items on the Loss/Powerlessness and Provisional Meaning subscales asking caregivers about feelings related to missing their past relationships or communications appeared inappropriate for many Korean daughters-in-law. Of equal importance, a unique source of meaning among Korean caregivers that is not assessed in the FMTCS is an interpersonal context, including the importance caregivers place on teaching children and feeling proud of one's caregiving accomplishments in the eyes of other relatives. The addition of new items that address the interpersonal context is warranted to improve the instrument's cultural appropriateness for Korean caregivers.