The objective burden in partners of heart failure patients; development and initial validation of the Dutch Objective Burden Inventory.
BACKGROUND
Measures on objective caregiver burden in partners of Heart Failure patients are hardly available and never include HF specific aspects.


OBJECTIVE
The main objective of our study was to develop an inventory that assesses the objective caregiver burden of partners of HF patients, including the full range of potential care giving demands.


METHODS
To develop the inventory, six domains of caregiving demands were identified. Items for the domains were generated from the literature, expert opinion and existing scales. The original 50-items self-report inventory was administered to 321 partners of HF patients. Demographic data of HF partners were collected by questionnaire. Clinical data of the HF patients were collected by chart review.


RESULTS
Component analysis led to exclusion of 12 original items and to a meaningful four-factor solution with a total explained variance of 43%. The components reflected four different kinds of care giving tasks; personal care, emotional, motivational and practical (treatment related) support. They demonstrated good internal consistency and initial validity was supported by a pattern of meaningful associations with external variables.


CONCLUSIONS
The Objective Burden Inventory is a promising inventory to assess objective care giving tasks performed by HF partners, including emotional and motivational support. It provides information on the caregiver situation that may help to develop effective interventions.
Luttik
Marie Louise
ML
Department of Cardiology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, PO BOX 30.001, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands. m.l.a.luttik@thorax.umcg.nl
Jaarsma
Tiny
T
Tijssen
Jan G P
JG
van Veldhuisen
Dirk J
DJ
Sanderman
Robbert
R
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001294:Attitude to Health; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D009426:Netherlands; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D011594:Psychometrics; D012380:Role; D012944:Social Support; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*