[Caregiver Need Assessment: a questionnaire for caregiver demand]

Area of Science:

• Psychometrics
• Caregiver Support
• Rehabilitation Medicine

Background:

• Informal caregivers of severely impaired patients often experience diminished quality of life and increased burden.
• Understanding caregiver needs is crucial for developing effective support interventions, especially in early illness stages.
• Existing assessment tools may not adequately capture the specific needs of caregivers for severely impaired patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the psychometric validity and reliability of the Caregiver Needs Assessment (CNA) questionnaire.
• To evaluate the CNA's ability to identify the assistance-related needs perceived by caregivers of severely impaired patients.
• To confirm the CNA's suitability as a practical tool for assessing caregiver needs in clinical settings.

Main Methods:

• The Caregiver Needs Assessment (CNA) questionnaire was administered to 226 family caregivers of 197 patients undergoing neuromotor rehabilitation.
• Patients had conditions such as stroke, head injury, Lateral Amyotrophic Sclerosis, or Parkinson's disease.
• Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, structural equation modeling, and test-retest reliability assessments were conducted.

Main Results:

• Factor analysis revealed a two-factor structure: 'needs of emotional and social support' (alpha = 0.765) and 'needs of information and communication' (alpha = 0.742).
• Structural equation modeling confirmed the model's goodness of fit (RMSEA = 0.073; SRMR = 0.1; CFI = 0.96).
• The CNA demonstrated good convergent validity with other well-being and strain questionnaires and high test-retest reliability (Pearson correlations 0.942-0.965).

Conclusions:

• The Caregiver Needs Assessment (CNA) questionnaire possesses robust psychometric properties, including validity and reliability.
• Its brevity and ease of use make the CNA a practical tool for assessing caregiver needs.
• The CNA can aid in personalizing psychological support programs, measuring intervention outcomes, and comparing needs across different diseases.