Background: Caregiver burden is an important outcome commonly
investigated in both observational and interventional literatures associated
with caregiving of patients. Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) is the oldest and
most widely used measure for assessment of caregiver burden. Since the
publication of the original version in 1980, various translated and shorter
revised versions of the ZBI in multiple languages have been produced.
Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the validity and reliability of the
Malay version of Zarit Burden Interview (MZBI) for assessment of the
caregiver burden among the local family caregivers of cancer patients.
Methods: In total, 50 family caregivers of cancer patients in a government
tertiary hospital in Sarawak were recruited in this cross-sectional study using
non-random sampling method. The caregivers were given the MZBI scale,
followed by the Malay version of Center for Epidemiologic Studies –
Depression (MCES-D) scale and English version of Zarit Burden Interview
(EZBI) scale. Statistical analyses were performed to assess the reliability and
validity of the MZBI.
Results: The MZBI demonstrated good reliability with
high internal consistency (α = 0.898) and split-half correlation of 0.912, and
significant positive correlation with MCES-D (rs = 0.58, p < 0.01) and EZBI
(rs = 0.84, p < 0.01). A score of 22 was selected as the suitable cut-off score for
MZBI scale in the local population based on ROC curve with the area under
the curve of 0.786 (CI 0.658 – 0.914, p = 0.001). At the score of 22, the
sensitivity and specificity of the MZBI were 70.8% and 69.2% respectively.
Conclusion: The MZBI demonstrated fairly good psychometric properties in
assessing the caregiver burden in local Malaysian population. Further study
on the factorial structure of the MZBI would be useful to enhance the overall
validity of the scale in the context of caregiver burden assessment.