Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Greek version of the Family Questionnaire for assessing expressed emotion

Abstract

Expressed emotion (EE) has proved to be an established factor in short-term relapse in schizophrenia. The aim of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Greek version of the Family Questionnaire (FQ), a brief self-report questionnaire measuring the EE status of relatives of patients with schizophrenia in terms of criticism (CC) and emotional overinvolvement (EOI). The translated and adapted 20-item FQ was administered to 176 family caregivers of patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Caregivers' burden (Family Burden Scale) and psychological distress (General Health Questionnaire-28) were also evaluated. The findings indicated that the Greek version displays a two-factor structure with two subscales of EE—CC and EOI—with 10 items each, similarly to the original version. The convergent validity of the subscales was highly supported by correlations with caregivers' burden and psychological distress. The Cronbach's α coefficient measuring internal consistency for the two scales were 0.90 for CC and 0.82 for EOI. The test–retest correlation coefficients measuring reproducibility were 0.99 and 0.98 for CC and EOI, respectively. The Greek version of the FQ appears to be a valid and reliable instrument to be used in both research and clinical assessment of family EE.