International Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Open Access

Abstract

Factors Influencing the Zarit Burden Interview in a Japanese Community: Activities of Daily Living and Depressive State

Shigeru Sonoda, Yasuhiko Shirayama, Rie Sakamoto, Shota Nagai and Shinobu Sakurai

Objective: Reducing the burden on the caregiver contributes to maintaining or enhancing quality of life of people with disability since caregiver support is indispensable to them. Methods: The Japanese short version of the Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview (J-ZBI_8) was administered to 167 families of 243 community-dwelling disabled Japanese adults covered by the long-term care insurance system in Japan to clarify the relationship between burden of care and the disability. The status of the disabled adults was evaluated by the Functional Independence Measure (FIM), Frenchay Activity Index (FAI), and Japan Stroke Scale (Depression Scale) (JSS-D). J-ZBI_8 was predicted from the FIM using the classification and regression tree (CART) method. Results: Rank correlation coefficients between the J-ZBI_8 score and disabled adults’ motor and sensory subscores of the FIM, FAI, and JSS-D were -0.205, -0.249, -0.205 and 0.396, respectively. J-ZBI_8 score showed a relatively high relationship to depression. According to the CART method, FIM motor subscore (FIMM) was divided to 3 groups, FIMM less than 20, FIMM from 20 to 79, and FIMM of 80 or more. Scattergram indicated that FIM motor subscore of subjects whose caregiver had a high J-ZBI_8 score ranged at the mid-level of activities of daily living. Conclusion: Since assisting movement of subjects who need a great deal of help is a harder burden of care than simply moving the subject without considering the subject’s desires, the burden of the care of subjects who can perform a few ADL is more severe than the burden of care of completely bedridden subjects.