Background:

The APGAR-family scale is used for the assessment of family functioning in primary health care.

Aim:

To examine the psychometric properties of the family functioning scale APGAR-family, in a multi-ethnic sample of older Chilean adults.

Material and Methods:

The scale was applied to 800 participants aged more than 60 years, residing in rural areas of the regions of Arica and Parinacota and La Araucanía.

Results:

The Cronbach's alpha obtained was 0,992 for the scale composed of five items. The confirmatory factor analysis determined a unifactorial model, whose goodness of fit indices were satisfactory. Namely, weighted least square mean and variance adjusted-χ2 was 20.097 (p < 0.01), comparative fit index was 0.997, Tucker-Lewis index was 0.995 and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation was 0.079 (90% confidence intervals 0.049-0.091).

Conclusions:

The APGAR-family is a reliable and appropriate instrument to be applied in older people in Chile, specifically in elderly people residing in rural areas who belong to the Aymara and Mapuche indigenous communities.