Assessing the Structural Characteristics of the Japanese Version of the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit for Carers

As there are no standardized measures of Quality of Life (QoL) of informal carers impacted by use of long-term care (LTC) in Japan, the development or translation and cross-cultural adaptation of LTC outcomes measures for carers is needed for LTC research and evaluation. In this study, we assessed the validity and reliability of the factor structure and response system of the translated and cross-culturally adapted Japanese version of the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit for Carer (J-ASCOTCarer). Participants were 872 informal family caregivers of adults with LTC services, living at home. Almost half (46 %) were aged between 50 and 59 years and 60 % took care of their mother . We used a combined factor analysis and item response theory approach. Model fit indices consideredwerefactor loading, path coefficients, root mean square error of approximation, standardized root mean square residual, and comparative fit index. This study confirmed the one factor structure ofthe original English version of the ASCOT-Carer. The values for the model fit indices indicated a good fit. The validity and reliability of the response system wereconfirmed. The J-ASCOT-Carer is a promising assessment instrument to measure QoL of Japanese caregivers of adultswith LTC.