Short Zarit scale in palliative care

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: We aimed to reduce the Zarit scale (ZS) for the assessment of caregiver burden in palliative care. PATIENTS AND METHOD: ZS was performed in 61 caregivers of palliative care patients admitted to hospital. The field explored by each item was decided by an expert committee and a logistic regression and ROC curve were performed. RESULTS: ZS reduction to 7 items was achieved with a sensitivity and specificity of 100% CONCLUSIONS: A reduced Zarit scale is useful to identify caregiver burden in palliative care. It is also easy to use.