Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the family accommodation scale for obsessive-compulsive disorder interviewer-rated.

BACKGROUND

Family accommodation (FA) in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) means that the relatives of patients are involved in, help or facilitate patients' ritual behaviors and avoidance, which is a frequent occurrence and underresearched phenomenon in China. Recent studies have suggested that FA is adversely associated with treatment response, contradictory to the goal of cognitive behavior therapy, a contributor to the maintenance of symptoms and increased symptom severity, and associated with low levels of family and social functioning. There is increasing interest and focus on establishing a family-based intervention for OCD treatment based on the inclusion of relatives by decreasing FA. The present study explored the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Family Accommodation Scale for OCD Interviewer-Rated (FAS-IR).

METHOD

A total of 109 patients with OCD and 91 primary relatives were assessed in corresponding patient and family measures, and the FAS-IR was administered to relatives by trained interviewers.

RESULTS

More than 90% of the relatives accommodated patients' symptoms with at least one kind of FA behavior over the previous week, and the incidence of extreme or everyday routines was as high as 59.3%. Exploratory factor analysis demonstrated two-factor structure for the whole scale, including (1) modification and facilitation, and (2) participation. Cronbach's alpha was 0.798 for the whole scale, and the interrater and test-retest reliability coefficients were 0.835 (95%CI: 0.603-0.937) and 0.882 (95%CI: 0.685-0.959), respectively. Convergent validity was supported in exploring FA and was associated with symptom severity, level of functional impairment and family functioning related to OCD. The FA was not significantly correlated with depressive symptoms rated by the patients, as evidence of acceptable divergent validity. There was no significant difference in FA total score based on patient gender, patient age, or relationship with patients.

CONCLUSIONS

The Chinese version of the FAS-IR demonstrated excellent psychometric properties for assessing the degree of FA, suggesting that it is a useful and valuable instrument in clinical and research settings.