Reliability and validity of the Croatian version of Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) Measure in primary care setting

Aim To translate the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) Measure into Croatian and validate the Croatian version of the questionnaire. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in July 2011 in 8 general practices (GP) in Croatia. Following two stages of translation, back-translation, and pilot testing, the Croatian version of the CARE was tested on 568 consecutive patients. Results Face validity was high, the number of missing values was low (9%), and the internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was 0.77. A principal component analysis of 10 CARE Measure items extracted two components with eigenvalues > 1. These two components explained 43.6% of the total instrument variance. Conclusion The Croatian version of the CARE Measure had acceptable reliability and face validity, but its intended component structure was not reproduced and further research is needed to understand its dimensionality.