Exploration of the Factor Structure of the Burden Experienced by Individuals Providing End-of-Life Care at Home

Abstract EN

In Japan, the number of elderly people who require long-term care is increasing as a result of the country’s aging population.

Consequently, the burden experienced by caregivers who provide end-of-life care at home has become a social problem.

This study aimed to confirm the factor structure of such caregiver burden by analyzing the Japanese version of the Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview (J-ZBI).

The J-ZBI was administered to 389 caregivers providing end-of-life care, and 247 answers were analyzed, with exploratory factor analysis performed on the results.

Consequently, a four-factor structure emerged (sacrificing life, personal strain, severe anxiety, and captivity); these four factors, constituting 15 items, were cumulatively named “J-ZBI_15.” In regard to reliability, Cronbach’s α coefficient for each factor was high; in terms of validity, a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the four-factor structure, and the goodness of model fit was determined to be satisfactory.

Further, the convergent validity was also high.

The care burden experienced by those providing end-of-life care at home differs from the burden of caregivers of individuals with other diseases, such as Alzheimer’s.

For assessing the burden felt by this population, the 15-item four-factor ZBI model is more appropriate than the single-factor 22-item ZBI, and we also determined that J-ZBI_8 is unsuitable for this task.

Thus, measurement of family caregivers’ burden in regard to providing end-of-life care at home should be performed using the 15-item four-factor J-ZBI model.