Development of a Mexicans American family loyalty scale.
Abstract
Purpose of the Study. Hispanics/Latinos (H/Ls) will be the largest aged minority population in the U.S. by 2050. This, together with the key role the Mexican American (MA) families play in giving care to their elders, makes the advancement of MA family eldercare instruments particularly important to both consumers and providers of healthcare. The 16-item Expectations of Family Loyalty of Children Toward Elderly Relatives (EFLOCTER) was derived from the 17-item Expectations of Filial Piety Scale- Spanish version (EFPS) and reanalyzed with a small MA sample. EFPS was collected from a heterogeneous sample of Hispanics/Latinos, the applicability of EFLOCTER was so refined as to improve the psychometric properties of EFPS and make it suitable to the cultural inclination of the largest homogeneous H/L subgroup-MA. Design and Methods. A methodological, descriptive, and correlational design was used. A convenience sample of 193 MA family caregivers of elders was interviewed by promotoras (community lay healthcare workers) in El Paso, Texas in 2007-2008. Results. Principal Axis Factoring with Direct Oblimin© rotation derived a two-factor structure which accounted for 51% of the variance in total scores - Respect (10 items) and Priority (3 items). Cronbach’s alpha was .89 and .70 and test-retest reliability across a 3-week interval was .90 and .79, respectively. Implications. The MAs are increasingly acculturated into the mainstream culture, the cultural legacy of honor thy parents, which places the onus of the care of elders on family members, remains robust. The EFLOCTER is a promising, short scale, which may be useful in establishing a quantitative base for further intervention studies in MA family eldercare.