The subjective burden of informal caregivers of persons with dementia: extended validation of the German language version of the Burden Scale for Family Caregivers (BSFC)

Objective: In research as well as in the practice of caregiver counselling, the subjective burden of family caregivers is considered an important characteristic of home care. The objective of the present study was to provide an extended validation of the German language version of the Burden Scale for Family Caregivers (BSFC) published in 2001.

Methods: Extended validation was performed using medical, interview, and health insurance data of 351 informal caregivers and their relatives who had dementia. Cronbach's alpha was calculated to assess the internal consistency of the items, and an exploratory factor analysis was conducted to determine the structure of the BSFC. The discriminatory power and item difficulties of the 28 BSFC items were examined. Five research questions addressed construct validity. Question six addressed the BSFC score as a potential predictor of institutionalization at a follow-up time of 2.5 years (predictive validity).

Results: Exploratory factor analysis indicated that the BSFC had a single-factor structure. Cronbach's alpha for the total scale was 0.93. A significant increase in the BSFC score was observed when the severity of cognitive impairment increased, persons with dementia showed disturbing behaviour, caregivers were diagnosed with depression, care requirements increased, or the family caregiver and the person with dementia lived together. Caregiver burden emerged as a significant predictor of institutionalization. The validity of the BSFC was confirmed by the results.

Conclusion: The BSFC score allows for a valid assessment of the total caregiver burden in both research and practice. The BSFC is available for free in 20 languages (http://www.caregiver-burden.eu).