The Caregiver Well-Being Scale: Developing a Short-Form Rapid Assessment Instrument

The Caregiver Well-Being Scale (CWBS) is a 43-item instrument that was designed in the 1990s to help family caregivers, clinicians, and researchers identify areas of caregiver strength and areas in which additional support is needed. This article describes the development of a 16-item version of the CWBS and discusses the methods used in testing the psychometric properties of the shortened version in a sample of 493 family caregivers. It concludes that the shortened version is valid, reliable, and easier to use than the original version but has the same goals and continues to be applicable in research and clinical settings.