Positive aspects of caregiving: Contributions of the REACH project to the development of new measures for Alzheimer's caregiving

The aim of this study was to assess a newly developed measure for the positive aspects of caregiving using a sample of dementia caregivers. The measure was developed and administered to 1,229 participants in a national collaborative Alzheimer's disease caregiver study and evaluated for validity and reliability using standard psychometric analyses. Factor analysis identified two components in this nine-item measure: Self-Affirmation and Outlook on Life. Cronbach's alphas for the components were .86 and .80, respectively. For the entire scale, Cronbach's alpha was .89. The Positive Aspects of Caregiving measure, tested with a large, diverse, and well-characterized sample shows promise as a valid and reliable instrument. With additional implementation and testing, the measure has the potential to substantially increase our understanding of basic caregiving research and the outcomes of intervention efforts.