Measurement structure of the caregiver burden scale: findings from a national community survey in Taiwan.

AIM

There is no appropriate understanding of community family caregiver burden. The object of the present study was to evaluate the measurement structure of a caregiver burden scale from a nationally representative Taiwanese community sample.

METHODS

Data from nationally representative subjects completing face-to-face interviews on caregiver burden were analyzed. A total of 9020 primary adult family caregivers were enrolled. All of the valid respondents were equally divided into three subsamples. The first sample was used to explore the factor structure of burden scale. The second sample was used to validate the factor structure. The third sample was used to verify the adequacy and stability of the factor structures developed in the former steps.

RESULTS

A total of 8826 valid data were included for analysis. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis identified the four-factor, 15-item Caregiver Burden Scale (CBS-15) in the present study. The extracted four factors were predominantly accounted for by the items measuring "burden of time," "relational burden," "financial burden" and "emotional burden". All the goodness-of-fit indices reported for this model were acceptable.

CONCLUSION

The present study supports the usefulness of the CBS-15 as a tool to understand the measurement structure of burden in a nationally representative Taiwanese community family caregivers sample. The CBS-15 can be used to identify community caregiver needs.