The Italian version of the Zarit Burden Interview: a validation study

Background Caregiving experience in dementia is a particular condition that might have adverse effects on the caregiver’s own physical and mental health. The Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) is the most widely used instrument for assessing family carer burden and the purpose of the present study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the ZBI. Methods Italian ZBI were administered to a non-randomised sample of 273 caregivers related to so many consecutively attended outpatients with a previously established primary diagnosis of dementia, according to DSM-IV criteria. Measurements used for the construct validity of the instrument were: The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R). Validity and reliability were evaluated, as well as the factor structure of the instrument. Results Most caregivers were children (65%), female (72%) and living with the patient (53%), with a quite high level of burden. The Italian ZBI demonstrate to have good reliability with high internal consistency (α=0.90) and good concurrent validity with other assessment tools. The original factorial structure of the ZBI was not confirmed. Conclusions The Italian version of the Zarit Burden Interview is resulted valid, reliable and useful for use in clinical contexts and in future studies, which could lead to a better understanding of carer burden on dementia. Clarifying the structure of the ZBI would help to further the understanding of the large body of research using it and would also help to advance the understanding of subjective burden.