Validation of the Bengali version of the Caregiver Collusion Questionnaire: A tool for measuring collusion among caregivers of terminally ill patients

Background

In palliative care settings, collusion or "conspiracy of silence" frequently interferes with communication and interpersonal relationships among patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals. The "Caregiver Collusion Questionnaire" is the only tool available for assessing caregiver collusion. The purpose of the study is to translate and adapt the English version of this instrument into Bengali, followed by standard validation.

Methods

The study was carried out in two stages. Four independent translators conducted forward and backward translations of the English version of the "Caregiver Collusion Questionnaire" into Bengali. The Bengali version of the instrument was finalized following expert committee reviews, pre-testing, and cognitive debriefing. The final validation was carried out among 71 caregivers of patients with advanced incurable illnesses admitted to the palliative medicine and internal medicine departments of two Bangladeshi hospitals. In the final phase, the validity (content, face, and construct validity) and reliability (interclass item-wise correlation coefficient) of the translated tool were assessed.

Result

60% of the participants fully understood 19 items, whereas 40% struggled with one or more items. The expert committee expressed their satisfaction with the face and content validity of the translated version. The Bengali version also had quite good reliability (α = 0.62). Seven components were identified using principal component analysis with the distribution of Varimax Rotation distribution. Items under each factor had adequate factor loading, ranging from 0.4 to 0.8.

Conclusion

The Bengali version of the "Caregiver Collusion Questionnaire" was found valid reliable and culturally acceptable for measuring caregiver collusion among the Bengali-speaking people. Based on the scale, the reasons for collusion can be identified and measures can be taken for breaking the collusion.