The Caregiver Activity Survey (CAS): longitudinal validation of an instrument that measures time spent caregiving for individuals with Alzheimer's disease

✍ Scribed by Deborah B. Marin; Micheline Dugue; James Schmeidler; Jennifer Santoro; Judith Neugroschl; Gabrielle Zaklad; Adam Brickman; Elke Schnur; Jennifer Hoblyn; Kenneth L. Davis

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 85 KB
• Volume: 15
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6230
• DOI: 10.1002/1099-1166(200008)15:8<680::aid-gps180>3.0.co;2-7

✦ Synopsis

Family members incur substantial _nancial costs during the course of caring for an individual with Alzheimer|s disease[ Much of this cost is associated with time spent in caregiving tasks\ including supervision and communication with the patient\ and assisting with activities of daily living[ We have previously reported on the cross sectional reliability and validity of a scale that measures time spent caregiving\ the Caregiver Activity Survey "CAS#[ This study extends our results to a longitudinal study of the validity of the instrument[ Forty!four outpatients with Alzheimer|s disease who lived with a primary caregiver were followed over a period of 0 year 5 months[ At six month intervals\ the patients were administered the Mini Mental State Exam "MMSE#\ Alzheimer|s Disease Assessment Scale "ADAS#\ and the Physical Self Maintenance Scale "PSMS#[ Caregivers completed the CAS[ Over time\ the CAS correlated signi_cantly with the MMSE "r -9[47\ p 9[999#\ ADAS cognitive subscale "r 9[45\ p 9[999# and PSMS "r 9[38\ p 9[999#[ As patients declined\ caregivers spent less time communicating with and more time supervising the patient[ Excluding the communication item\ time spent caregiving increased signi_cantly over time[ This prospective study longitudinally validates the CAS with Alzheimer|s patients[ Copyright Þ 1999