Needs assessment of informal caregivers of people with dementia in Arkansas

Objectives: To explore the level of caregiver burden among dementia caregivers and categorize caregiver needs in Arkansas regarding three domains: cognition, behavior, and affect. Methods: A descriptive design and surveyed N = 72 informal caregiver participants. The 104-item survey combined four different scales measuring three domains: The Alzheimer’s Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS), Task Management Strategy Index (TMSI), Caregiver Assessment of Behavioral Skill-Self Report (CABS_SR), and the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI). Results: Findings revealed that most caregivers were knowledgeable (ADKS M = 23.89 out of 30) about the care recipient’s disease or care. Scores from the TMSI (M = 59.55 out of 95) show that caregivers were applying knowledge to their caregiving skills. However, caregivers report a need to improve behavioral skills (M = 14.34 out of 34; CBI M = 35.13 out of 96), and that they experience high levels of emotional burden (M = 3.0 out of 20). Conclusion: Needs of caregivers in this sample are most prominent in the domains of cognition (skills) and behavior. There is less need in the area of cognition (knowledge) and the affective domain. The domain model was a useful method of performing needs assessment in this population.