THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CLINICAL CUTOFFS IN MEASURING CAREGIVER BURDEN IN DEMENTIA

Although several scales have been developed to assess burden, their cl inical utility has been limited by the absence of relevant cutoff poin ts. Clinical data from 140 primary caregivers seeking a dementia evalu ation for a family member were analyzed to establish the psychometric properties of a caregiver burden screen. Results indicate that the cut off values were both sensitive and specific to negative caregiving out comes. These findings suggest that use of a burden screen may assist c linicians when assessing the adequacy of caregiving arrangements in de mentia.