School of Medicine half banner

Developing a Relevant Instrument to Assess Caregiver Distress and Benefit in Spinal Cord Injury

Research Project
Developing a Relevant Instrument to Assess Caregiver Distress and Benefit in Spinal Cord Injury
Principal Investigator
J Scott Richards, PhD
Division
Clinical Research
Funding Source
National Institute on Disability Rehabilitation Research/ Craig Hospital
Description

The focus of instruments used to measure specific areas of “burden” of caregiving have been designed for use with caregivers of individuals who have cognitive impairments (stroke, Alzheimer’s, dementia). The focus of these measures is largely on behavioral issues. To bring the issue of instrumentation into better focus, in 2002, the Family Caregiver Alliance produced a compendium of caregiver assessment instruments. Several are designed to assess a single dimension of caregiving, such as burdern or satisfaction, while others are multidimentional. However, no single instrument exists to capture the overwhelmingly physical aspects of providing assistance to someone with SCI, in addition to the very personal care of bowel and bladder management, the long-term nature of SCI caregiving and the related family stressors that may exist. Thus, the goal of this project is to explicate the specific issues related to caregiving in SCI and develop a relevant and culturally appropriate instrument to assess caregiver distress and/or benefit in SCI.

Member Of
Related To
  • Spinal Cord Injury or Dysfunction
  • Clinical Research
  • UAB Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
  • - Spain Rehabilitation Center, Suite 190 - 1717 6th Ave S - BIRMINGHAM, AL 35294-6810
Login