Selected caregiver assessment measures: A resource inventory for practitioners

The Selected Caregiver Assessment Measures: A Resource Inventory for Practitioners, 2ndEdition, was compiled by Sarah Schwartz, MSSA, and Laura Darlak, BA, under the supervision of Carol J. Whitlatch, Ph.D., Assistant Director of the Margaret Blenkner Research Institute of the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging. 

Critical guidance, input, and review was provided throughout this project by Kathleen Kelly, MPA, Executive Director of Family Caregiver Alliance, National Center on Caregiving.

This inventory represents a select group of caregiver assessment measures specifically chosen for practical application by practitioners who work with family and informal caregivers of older persons and adults with disabilities. The purpose of compiling this inventory is to provide a compendium of caregiver assessment measures that is practice-oriented, practical and applicable, and which conceptually addresses the multidimensional aspects of the caregiving experience. As with the 1st Edition, every effort was made to assemble a group of measures that characterizes the broadest possible range of the caregiving experience.

This inventory is not intended to represent an exhaustive collection of measures. All of the measures included in this inventory are applicable to the caregiver population and most were specifically designed for caregiver assessment. Measures that are not caregiver specific and have been used with broader non-caregiving populations are referenced as “[not caregiver specific]”. Similarly, measures that have been used with care recipients or measures that have a care recipient version are noted.
The measures in this inventory were selected because they are:

• Practical and applicable to caregivers
• Previously applied, or could be applied, in practice settings
• Cited in the literature
• Reliable and/or valid

The inventory is available here