Testing the psychometric properties of a Chinese version of the Level of Expressed Emotion scale

Expressed emotion of families of people with schizophrenia is useful and important to evaluate the effects of family interventions. This study tested the reliability and validity of a Chinese version of the Level of Expressed Emotion scale. This psychometric analysis included tests of content validity and reliability, and an exploratory factor analysis. Results indicated that the Chinese version had a high level of equivalence with the original English version and demonstrated good internal consistency and test–retest reliability. The refined 52‐item Chinese version consisted of four factors, indicating satisfactory correlation with two theoretically relevant scales. The Chinese version appears psychometrically sound as a measure of schizophrenic patients' perceptions of their family members' expressed emotion. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 32:59–70, 2009