The caregiver strain questionnaire: Measuring the impact on the family of living with a child with serious emotional disturbance

The impact on the family of having a family member with serious emotional problems has been an area of concern as deinstitutionalization and managed care have shifted treatment to the community and primary caregiving to the Family. Measures are needed to assess caregiver strain in a way that can lead to a better understanding of the phenomena, improve clinical interventions, and examine the outcomes of new treatment modalities on the client's family. In order to study the effects of this treatment shift, the Caregiver Strain Questionnaire (formerly the Burden of Care Questionnaire) was developed for use with families of children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders. Findings from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses support the existence of three related but unique dimensions of strain experienced by parents of this population. This study adds to the current body of knowledge by suggesting that subjective caregiver strain has two components, and not the single form claimed in previous research. The results also indicate that the Caregiver Strain Questionnaire is a reliable and valid scale for the measurement of caregiver strain among families of children with emotional or behavioral disorders.