Reliability and validity of the Critical Care Family Needs Inventory in a Dutch-speaking Belgian sample

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to provide psychometric evaluation of the Dutch version of the Critical Care Family Needs Inventory. SETTING: The study took place in an intensive care unit of a university hos pital. PARTICIPANTS: The participant group included 200 adult family members visit ing a patient within the 72-hour interval after admission to the intensive care unit. RESULTS: Principal factor analysis with varimax rotation resulted in a 5-fa ctor solution distinguishing 5 need types: need for information, need for c omfort, need for support, need for assurance and anxiety reduction, and nee d for proximity and accessibility. The internal consistency of the resultin g subscales ranged from 0.80 to 0.62, and all factors were significantly re lated to each other. The Critical Care Family Needs Inventory subscales wer e found to be clearly related to the demographic variables age, sex, and ed ucation level. CONCLUSION: The reliability and validity of the Dutch-language Critical Car e Family Needs Inventory as a diagnostic tool in family needs assessment ar e supported.