The Revised Caregiver Burden Scale: A Preliminary Evaluation

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of the study is to empirically determine the factor structure of the original Stommel, Given, and Given (1990) 31-item Perceived Caregiver Burden Scale (PCB). Method: By telephone, 150 caregivers of the elderly were interviewed, and the data were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis. Results: Results did not support all the 31 items in the five-factor theoretical structure but did suggest a 13-item three-factor model. In addition, this three-factor version evidenced high internal consistency among the subscales. The short revised version of the PCB-13 scale is an easy-to-administer screening tool for estimating burden. Conclusion: Although this scale should be validated further by replication, the scale has implications for social work practitioners. Practitioners are cautioned to use PCB-13 as an assessment tool, but they can supplement the short scale with other qualitative measures to screen Indian/Pakistani caregivers until further validation studies can be conducted.