The Caregiver Activity Survey (CAS): Development and validation of anew measure for caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease
K.L. Davis
Bok Engelsk 1997
| Utgitt | 1997
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| Omfang | Side 978- 988
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| Opplysninger | Background. Most instruments that measure the impairments associatedwith Alzheimer's disease assess symptom severity. Little attentionhas been paid to the illness's impact on the time formal and informalcaregivers spend caring for Alzheimer's individuals. A tool thatmeasures the time spent caregiving would help to determine theeconomic impact of the illness, The Caregiver Activity Survey (CAS)was developed to measure the time caregivers spend aiding Alzheimer'spatients with their day-to-day activities.Methods. The test-retest reliability of the CAS was assessed during a3-week study with 42 Alzheimer's patients and their caregivers. TheCAS was validated with the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment ScaleCognitive Subscale (ADAS-Cog), the Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) andthe Physical Self Maintenance Scale (PSMS).Results. The final version of the CAS consists of six items(communicating with the person, using transportation, eating,dressing, looking after one's appearance and supervising the person).The six-item CAS total score has high test-retest reliability, withICC = 0.88 between weeks 1 and 3. The scale has strong convergentvalidity with the ADAS-Cog (r = 0.61), MMSE (r = -0.57) and PSMS (r =0.43). Efforts to include a dimension that reflect caregiver burdenwere not successful, in part due to the reluctance of caregivers toacknowledge that caregiving is bothersome.Conclusions. The CAS provides a new tool that measures time spentcaring for Alzheimer's individuals. The instrument may be used toaugment existing clinical assessments that measure the efficacy ofpotentially therapeutic agents for persons with Alzheimer's disease.(C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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