- Antonio Angel Regueiro Martínez: Medicina de Familia, Centro de Salud de Vilanova de Arousa, Pontevedra, Spain. regueiro@cmpont.es
OBJECTIVE: To determine which Short Zarit Interview behaves best for use in establishing caregivers' burden in primary care.
DESIGN: Study of validation of diagnostic tests.
LOCATION: Vilaboa Health Centre, Pontevedra, Spain.
PARTICIPANTS: Main caregivers of elderly dependent patients who live at home.
INTERVENTIONS: Katz Index to determine dependence, Zarit Burden of Care Interview and palliative care version of the Short Zarit Interview, Bédard, Bédard screening version, and the Japanese version.
MAIN MEASUREMENTS: Zarit Interview in its 22-item version, with subsequent calculation of the sensitivity (S), specificity (Sp), positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of the various reduced versions.
RESULTS: The Short Zarit Interview used in palliative care cases to determine the family giving up has an S of 100%, Sp 90.5%, PPV 95.45%, and NPV 100% in defining caregivers' burden in primary care.
CONCLUSIONS: The scale that behaves best in primary care is the Short Zarit Interview for palliative care.