Swedish version of CancerSupportSource-Caregiver shows promise in pilot psychometric evaluation

Researchers have translated and culturally adapted the CancerSupportSource-Caregiver (CSS-C) questionnaire into Swedish and carried out a descriptive pilot evaluation of its psychometric properties among family members of people diagnosed with cancer. The study, published in BMC Health Services Research, was led by Maria Samuelsson and colleagues, with Marie Louise Möllerberg among the co-authors.

The aim of the study was threefold: to translate the CSS-C, to culturally adapt it for the Swedish context, and to conduct a descriptive pilot evaluation of the validity and reliability of the Swedish version. The tool is designed to identify unmet support needs as well as symptoms of anxiety and depression among family caregivers of people with cancer.

The translation and cultural adaptation process involved forward and backward translation carried out by professional translators in collaboration with the research team. Two expert panels then assessed the comprehensibility, face validity and content validity of the translated items: one panel consisted of family members of persons diagnosed with cancer, and the other of healthcare professionals.

Based on requests from the expert panels, and supported by empiricism, the instrument was adapted to the Swedish context with five items added. As a result, the Swedish version comprises 24 items rather than the original item set.

For the pilot evaluation, the researchers used classical test theory with a sample of 30 adult Swedish family members of persons diagnosed with cancer. The face and content validity of the Swedish CSS-C were found to be satisfactory, and the convergent validity was described as promising.

The pilot psychometric evaluation indicated high data quality, overall satisfactory targeting, and internal consistency. However, the results were not uniformly positive: two items were right-skewed, and the analysis showed indices of redundancy, meaning that some items may overlap in what they measure.

The authors conclude that the Swedish CancerSupportSource-Caregiver appears to have the potential to identify unmet needs and symptoms of anxiety and depression among Swedish family members of persons diagnosed with cancer. This conclusion is framed as a preliminary assessment based on the pilot data rather than a definitive validation of the instrument.

Because the focus of this study was on translating and adapting the tool, the researchers emphasise that further studies in larger samples are warranted to determine the psychometric properties, factor structure, validity, and reliability of the Swedish version. The published article is an open-access research paper, released as a version subject to further editorial edits before the final Version of Record.

Subject of Research: Translation and pilot psychometric evaluation of the Swedish CancerSupportSource-Caregiver questionnaire for family caregivers of people with cancer

Article Title: Translation, cultural adaptation, and descriptive psychometric pilot evaluation of the Swedish Cancer Support Source-caregiver

Article References: Samuelsson, M., Jakobsson, J., Maus, B., Olsson, C. M., & Möllerberg, M. L. (2026). Translation, cultural adaptation, and descriptive psychometric pilot evaluation of the Swedish Cancer Support Source-caregiver. BMC Health Services Research, 26(1), Article 1216. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-026-15491-1

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12913-026-15491-1

Keywords: CancerSupportSource-Caregiver, caregivers, psychometrics, questionnaire validation, Sweden, content validity, internal consistency, HADS, unmet needs, cultural adaptation, pilot study, BMC Health Services Research