Resumo

RESTREPO, Natalia et al. Validation of the Family Emotional Involvement and Criticism Scale (FEICS) in Colombian Psychiatric Clinical Population . rev.colomb.psiquiatr. [online]. 2004, vol.33, n.2, pp.143-162. ISSN 0034-7450.

Objective: To validate the Family Emotional Involvement and Criticism Scale (FEICS) in colombian psychiatric patients. Methods: Translation and back translation were carried out. Face validity was evaluated by a group of experts. Content and construct validity were assessed through factor analysis of principal components. Concurrent validity was evaluated by comparison with “The Five Minute Speech Sample” and the cohesion subscale of “Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale (FACES-III)”. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were also assessed. Results: Four domains were found in the factor analysis. These were censure, involvement, intrusion and support, which account for 57.4% of the variance. Internal consistency of the criticism subscale was good (Crombach's Alpha = 0.76). In contrast, internal consistency of the involvement subscale was poor (Crombach's Alpha = 0.54). The test-retest reliability was excellent for the criticism subscale (ICC = 0.92) and was good for the involvement subscale (ICC: 0.62). Significant correlation between the involvement subscale and the cohesion subscale of FACES-III was found (r = 0.26, p = 0.001). Also significant was the correlation between the criticism subscale and the number of critical comments in “The Five Minute Speech Sample” (r=0.31, p=0.0001). Conclusions: FEICS was easy to use and showed four domains in contrast to the original scale which only identified two domains. Good internal consistency, test-retest reliability and construct validity were found in the criticism subscale, making it useful in clinical practice and research. Good correlation with FACES-III and high test-retest reliability were found for the involvement subscale. However, it had poor internal consistency. This underscores the need of taking into account cultural factors associated with involvement possibly having to modify the items in this subscale.

Palavras-chave : expressed emotions; criticism; involvement; FEICS; validation.