Development and testing of a measure of perceived caregiver rewards in adults.

Assessment of the rewards of caregiving is pertinent to a holistic view of the caregiving experience and design of health promotion interventions for caregivers. Few measures of caregiver positive appraisals exist. This paper describes the development and pilot testing of the Picot Caregiver Rewards Scale (PCRS) for adult caregivers. Derived from the choice and social exchange theory, caregiver interviews, and literature, 25 items compose the scale. Psychometric testings of the PCRS were conducted in a nonrandom sample of 83 Black female caregivers and a random sample of 256 Black and White female and male caregivers. Alphas of .83 and .88 demonstrated acceptable internal consistency of the revised 16-item PCRS. Construct validity was demonstrated by support of hypothesized relationships with caregiving demands, palliative coping, depression, and caregiver burden, as well as confirmatory factor analysis. Further psychometric study of the PCRS is recommended.