The development of a rapid screen for caregiver burden

Objectives: To develop a shortened screen for burden associated with caring for a patient with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: The Memory Disorders Clinic of an AD center. Participants: Two hundred fifty-one AD patient-caregiver dyads. Measurements: Screen for Caregiver Burden (SCB), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale, Medical Outcomes Short Form, Mini-Mental State Examination, and patient and caregiver characteristics. Results: At least 25% of the sample endorsed eight of the 25 items in the SCB subjective burden (SB) scale. Of these eight items with a prevalence of 25% or greater endorsement, seven items had item-total correlations of 0.55 or greater. The shortened seven-item SCB SB had an alpha of 0.86, indicating that the shortened scale has good internal consistency (Full SCB SB alpha=0.88). The seven-item SCB SB was highly associated with depression and overall mental health measures. Conclusion: This shortened version of the SCB allows a clinician to rapidly assess the burden associated with caregiving for a person with AD.