The Danish version of Caregiver Burden Scale: Psychometric properties, prevalence, and predictors of burden in caregivers of persons with stroke, spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury

Background and aims: After a neurological condition such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), stroke, or spinal cord injury (SCI), life is dramatically disrupted for the person and their family members. The majority of patients experience short and long-term physical, emotional or cognitive sequela that cause them to require some level of assistance in everyday activities, and this can place a variety of tasks on caregivers. This calls for a reliable and valid scale enabling use across diagnoses. Consequently, the study aimed to investigate 1) the psychometric properties of the Danish version of the Caregiver Burden Scale (CBS), and 2) the prevalence and predictors of burden across caregivers of persons with TBI, stroke or SCI.

Methods: The study evaluated psychometric properties of the CBS. Severity of burden was compared using Fisher’s exact test and ANOVA, and predictors of burden were investigated using multiple linear regression models.

Results: The study included a pooled sample of 122 caregivers with a mean age of 52 ± 14.4 years. The majority were predominantly female (66.4%). Scores on the CBS showed that the total burden score exhibited good internal consistency (α = .93), no floor or ceiling effects, indicating good psychometric properties. Mean scores on CBS were not significantly different among the three injury groups. However, contrasts revealed that TBI-caregivers scored significantly higher compared to SCI-caregivers on the Emotional Involvement subscale, t(118) = 2.22, p = .03. The majority (52.2%) of the full sample reported a low level of caregiver burden (<2.00), and few (8.8%) reported high levels of burden (≥3.00). Differences were found when comparing SCI-caregivers to brain injury-caregivers (TBI and stroke, collectively), χ2(2) = 6.38, p = .04, as SCI-caregivers were more likely to report low levels of burden. Longer time in caregiver role was a significant predictor of higher total score and all subscale scores on CBS.

Conclusions: The Danish version of CBS had good psychometric properties in both stroke, TBI and SCI caregivers, with. Most caregivers reported a low level of burden and longer time in caregiver role was associated with higher burden. Future research should investigate the differences between burden reported by caregivers in different diagnostic groups, as associations between perceived burden in caregivers and deficits in the care-recipient is still sparsely investigated.