CORRELATION AMONG 3 PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES USED IN RESEARCH OF CAREGIVERS FOR PATIENTS WITH ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE

This study was conducted to assess whether three scales commonly used in psychological research of Alzheimer's disease caregivers-Caregiver Burden Interview, Life Satisfaction Index-Z, and Geriatric Depression Scale-measure similar or different aspects of mental health. Responses from 244 nonprofessional caregivers were used to estimate factor stru cture, intercorrelation, and independent variables associated with the three scales. Self-rated health was the only variable significantly a ssociated with scores on all three scales. Financial concern and numbe r of weekly telephone calls were associated with total scores on the S atisfaction and Depression scales. Factor models of five, three, and s ix factors were fitted for the Burden, Satisfaction, and Depression sc ales, respectively. Correlations of factor scores and canonical variab les among the scales did not yield strong associations between subsets of items. Although a few common aspects of caregiving influence score s of all, three techniques, the facets of caregivers' psychology asses sed by the three scales appear Iq be different.