What really matters: an inquiry into the relative importance of dimensions of informal caregiver burden.
OBJECTIVE
Prevailing measures of subjective caregiver burden either have no overall summary score or do not consider the relative importance caregivers attach to different dimensions of burden. Our aim was to assess which dimensions informal caregivers perceive as being important to their overall burden from care giving.


METHODS
Cross-sectional.


METHODS
Data were pooled from two Dutch samples of primary informal caregivers covering a wide range of chronic care-giving situations: caregivers for stroke survivors (n = 196) and caregivers for individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (n = 131).


METHODS
Subjective burden of care giving was assessed using the Caregiver Reaction Assessment (CRA) and the Self-Rated Burden scale (SRB).


RESULTS
In the total sample four of the five dimensions of the CRA were found to contribute to the overall subjective burden experienced by informal caregivers. In the individual stroke and RA samples only two of the five dimensions emerged as relevant. SRB scores were significantly higher for caregivers of stroke patients, but no differences were found for the five dimensions of the CRA between the two samples.


CONCLUSIONS
The dimensions of CRA are not equally important to the overall subjective burden of informal caregivers. To assess overall subjective burden, a measure based on a caregiver's own assessment of burden such as SRB needs to be used in addition to prevailing measures.
Institute for Medical Technology Assessment, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands. vanexel@bmg.eur.nl
N J A
NJ
van Exel
W B F
WB
Brouwer
B
B
van den Berg
M A
MA
Koopmanschap
G A M
GA
van den Bos
D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation