ACCURACY OF CAREGIVERS RECOLLECTIONS OF CAREGIVING HASSLES

Despite their common use in clinical settings, caregivers' recollectio ns of the hassles they face in caregiving have not been examined in pr evious research. Ninety-seven spousal caregivers of persons with demen tia were assessed for 6 consecutive months concerning caregiving hassl es and numerous other issues. A multi-pass rank order assessment ident ified the most stressful event in caregiving over each month-long inte rval. Each month via telephone interview, caregivers' recollections of the most stressful event in the previous month were assessed; no retr ieval cues were provided. Of a total of 582 retrieval events examined, 378 (65%) were correct, 84 (14%) were incorrect, and 120 (21%) were n ot remembered. These data indicate that a majority of caregivers are c apable of accurate recollection of caregiving hassles after a delay of one month following very careful ranking procedures, but also that in dividual differences in accuracy are present.