1. Introduction
ld age is a natural process of physiological, psychological, and social changes that begins in the embryonic stage and continues until death [1]. The world is rapidly aging as it seeks to increase life expectancy, increase life expectancy, improve health, improve living standards, reduce mortality, and enforce birth control policies. The world's elderly population in 2014 was 12%, which is projected to reach 21% in 2050 [2]. In Iran, following the government's health policies in the last three decades from 1986-2016, the aging rate has increased from 5.7 to 9.3 [3, 4].
As the elderly population grows, so do their social support, rehabilitation, and health care issues. During this period, age-related physiological and psychosocial changes cause the elderly to be prone to experience negative social consequences at the individual, family, and social stages; therefore, maintaining the quality of life in this period is very important [5]. Studies show that one of the tools for measuring the relationship between grandchildren and grandparents is the Grandparent-Grandchild Relationship Questionnaire used in some foreign studies such as Tan Joe [6] and Khalid Shazed [7].
However, since in Iran only the perspective of grandparents has been studied and on the other hand, the validity of this questionnaire has not been studied so far, this study has evaluated the validity of the Persian version of the Grandparent-Grandchild Relationship Questionnaire.
2. Methods & Materials
This cross-sectional study was performed on 505 male and female students aged 9-17 years studying in the third to eleventh grades of elementary and junior high schools. Students were selected by random cluster sampling. Of inclusion criterion was having at least one grandparent. In the selected schools, with the coordination of the school principal, a full explanation of the purpose of the study was stated. It was mentioned that if the student or his/her parents do not want to participate in the study, they can stop participating, or if after participating in the study, he or his family were unwilling for data analysis, they would be excluded from the study, and thus a passive consent, in which the nature of the study was explained, was obtained from the students’ parents or guardian.
Validity and reliability of the questionnaire
Content validity
In order to determine the Content Validity Index (CVI), 8 geriatricians and psychologists were asked to rate the relevance of each question in the test as follows: Irrelevant 1, Need Serious review 2, Relevant but need review 3, and Completely related 4.
Face validity
The main issue in face validity was the subject's understanding of the concept of the test; therefore, the test questions should be selected in terms of words, sentences, and appearance content in a way that stimulates the respondents.
Structural validity
In this study, to determine the validity of the structure, confirmatory factor analysis was performed using AMOS software V. 23.
Internal reliability
Cronbach's alpha method, the most common internal stability reliability coefficient, was used in this study, which represents the degree of fit of a group of items that measure a structure and their value is between 0 and 1. In other words, the alpha value must be at least equal to 0.7 or more [10]. Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient is useful when the questions are a Likert scale tool that the questions of the Alder-Kunger relation questionnaire were also in the Likert scale.
Study pilot
The study pilot was conducted on 30 first to eleventh grade students and the questions were assessed for comprehensibility and simplicity. The pilot result showed that the questions were not comprehensible to the first and second grade students and they could not answer the questions due to lack of comprehension, lack of complete independence in answering, and inability to read the questions. Questions and words that were not clear to the students were re-examined and corrected.
3. Results
Samples
The Mean±SD age of students participating in the study was 12.88±2.67 years. The gender composition of the study participants was 51.1% female. The highest frequency was in the third and fourth grades of elementary school with 12.5%. About 86.1% of students had a maternal grandmother, 62.6% had a maternal grandfather, 68.1% had a paternal grandmother and 42.2% had a paternal grandfather. Also, about 5% of students did not have a grandmother at all and about 25% of students did not have a grandfather at all.
Content validity
Content validity Index (CVI) was calculated and the number was 0.98. The minimum acceptable value for the CVI index was 0.79 and if an item was less than 0.79 should be removed [11]. The values obtained for the CVI showed that the test questions had an acceptable value of the CVI.
Face validity
All items of the Grandparent-Grandchild Relationship Questionnaire were accepted by students in terms of simplicity, clarity, and comprehensibility. This questionnaire had a good number of questions and was not boring and time consuming for teenagers. According to 12.5% of experts, questions one and three needed serious revision that were revised and corrected.
Structural validity
Structural validity was performed to show that the questionnaire was two-dimensional, which included emotional and participatory dimensions. AMOS statistical software v. 23 was used. To evaluate the goodness-to-fit index of the model, GFI, AGFI, and RMSEA indices were used and the following results were obtained:
GFI=0.964, CMIN=2.504, AGFI=0.938, RMSEA=0.059
Also, the CMIN index was equal to 2.504, which the acceptable value of it is less than 5. The calculated Chi-squared had a goodness-to-fit index of the community.
Reliability
The internal reliability of the questionnaire was calculated using Cronbach's alpha. The Cronbach's alpha value for the emotional dimension of the questionnaire was 0.84 and for the participatory dimension was 0.83 and for the whole questionnaire the relationship was 0.89, which shows that the Grandparent-Grandchild Relationship Questionnaire had a good internal reliability.
4. Conclusion
In order to validate the Grandparent-Grandchild Relationship Questionnaire, content validity, face validity, structural validity, and internal reliability indices were used and the results showed that this questionnaire has good validity and reliability. Content Validity results based on CVI were 0.98 and confirmed [11].
This questionnaire has good Content Validity and, as mentioned before, the minimum acceptable value for the CVI is 0.79 and if the index is less than 0.79, that item should be removed. The results of face validity showed that the questions were suitable for students in terms of simplicity, clarity, and comprehensibility, and they can answer the questions easily and without problems, and these questions are suitable for ages 9 and up.
The results of construct validity showed that the two emotional and participatory dimensions of the questionnaire had a well goodness-to-fit index and all items were significantly related to their respective factors.
The results of the present study showed that the Persian version of the Grandparent-Grandchild Relationship Questionnaire has good validity and reliability and the answers can be used to examine the views of grandchildren at different ages towards their grandparents. It is suggested that further studies be performed to evaluate the validity of the Grandparent-Grandchild Relationship Questionnaire.
Ethical Considerations
Compliance with ethical guidelines
This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation. (Code: IR.USWR.REC.1396.312).
Funding
This research did not receive any grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or non-profit sectors.
Authors' contributions
Conceptualization: Yadollah Abolfathi Momtaz, Mones Modaresifar; Methodology, analysis, research and review: Mones Modaresifar, Yadollah Abolfathi Momtaz, Ahmad Delbari; writing – review & editing: Yadollah Abolfathi Momtaz, Mones Modaresifar, Ahmad Delbari; Supervision: Yadollah Abolfathi Momtaz, Ahmad Delbari.
Conflicts of interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
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