Initial Development and Preliminary Validation of the Caregiver Motivation Appraisal Scale: Assessing Voluntary and Obligatory Caregiving Motivations.

PURPOSE: To introduce, describe, and evaluate the Caregiver Motivation Appraisal Scale (CMAS), an 11-item instrument developed to assess voluntary and obligatory caregiving motivations. METHOD: Psychometric properties of the CMAS were evaluated in a sample of 222 caregivers. Items were generated from qualitative interviews, and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using principal axis factoring followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to examine the factor structure. RESULTS: EFA supported a two-factor structure comprising an eight-item voluntary motivation subscale and a three-item obligatory motivation subscale, accounting for 64.07% of the variance. The CMAS demonstrated strong internal consistency (α = 0.83). CFA indicated good model fit (comparative fit index = 0.96, goodness of fit index = 0.91, root mean square error of approximation = 0.06, standardized root mean square residual = 0.08). CONCLUSION: Findings support the initial development and preliminary validation of the CMAS, contributing to understanding caregiver motivation and its potential implications for caregiver well-being research. Future work should refine the obligatory motivation subscale and validate the instrument across diverse caregiver populations.