The Gerontologist, Vol 34, Issue 6 828-832, Copyright © 1994 by The Gerontological Society of America

ARTICLES

The establishment of clinical cutoffs in measuring caregiver burden in dementia

ED Rankin, MW Haut, RW Keefover and MD Franzen
Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown 26506-9124.

Although several scales have been developed to assess burden, their clinical utility has been limited by the absence of relevant cutoff points. Clinical data from 140 primary caregivers seeking a dementia evaluation for a family member were analyzed to establish the psychometric properties of a caregiver burden screen. Results indicate that the cutoff values were both sensitive and specific to negative caregiving outcomes. These findings suggest that use of a burden screen may assist clinicians when assessing the adequacy of caregiving arrangements in dementia.

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