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The Caregiver Vigilance Scale: Application and validation in the Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health (REACH) project

Richard N. Jones, ScD

Program for Enhanced Family Caregiving through Technology, Research and Training Institute, Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for Aged, Boston, Massachusetts

David W. Coon, PhD

Goldman Research Center, Goldman Institute on Aging, San Francisco, California; Older Adult and Family Center, Veterans Administration, Palo Alto Health Care System, Stanford University School of Medicine, Menlo Park, California

Aaron B. Mendelsohn, PhD

Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Laura N. Gitlin, PhD

Community and Homecare Research Division, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Marcia Ory, PhD

School of Rural Public Health, Texas A&M University System, Health Science Center, College Station, Texas; National Institute on Aging, Behavioral and Social Science Program, Bethesda, Maryland

This article reports on the measurement properties of Caregiver Vigilance, a four-item caregiver self-report of perceived oversight demand for Alzheimer's disease and related disorders family caregiving. The self-report uses data from the Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health (REACH) project, a multisite National Institutes of Health (NIH) sponsored study of over 1,200 family caregivers. Results indicate that the items were clearly understood by the racially/ethnically diverse respondents; and, when responses were transformed into a summary scale and analyzed, unidimensionality was evident and internal consistency reliability favorably demonstrated. We suggest using the Caregiver Vigilance Scale in conjunction with traditional burden measures to systematically include the caregiving time associated with protectively watching over care recipients and the daily duration of this responsibility. We also highlight the practical utility of selected items for potential use in the caregiver assessment process.

Key Words: caregiving burden • family caregivers • homecare • minority groups • research techniques • selfreport measures • validity

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