Assessing caregiving distress: a conceptual analysis and a brief scale.
OBJECTIVE
Although it is well known that informal caregiving can have negative outcomes, and is an important factor in institutionalization, there is currently no common model to assess psychological distress in caregivers. In this study, we considered the conceptualization of caregiving distress, and present a five-dimension, 17-item Caregiving Distress Scale (CDS).


METHODS
The CDS was developed by administering several scales from the caregiving literature to a sample of 80 Parkinson's disease caregivers longitudinally.


METHODS
A total of 58 items from published questionnaires were reduced initially by a hierarchical cluster analysis, then by factor analysis.


RESULTS
This procedure produced five distinctive subscales - relationship distress, emotional burden, care-receiver demands, social impact, and personal cost - that also had high internal reliability.


CONCLUSIONS
The CDS is quick to administer and score, and has the potential to be used to profile an individual caregiving situation. Of critical importance for the application of findings from the caregiving literature, the scale can be used to target the type of intervention for the amelioration of caregiving distress.
Cousins
Rosanna
R
Psychology Unit, Centre for Studies in the Social Sciences, Edge Hill, UK. rosanna.cousins@hse.gov.uk
Davies
Ann D M
AD
Turnbull
Christopher J
CJ
Playfer
Jeremy R
JR
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires