Development and validation of the needs inventory for caregivers of the hospitalized elderly

As the population continues to age, more and more families are faced with caring for aging family members and the concurrent increase in stress and needs brought about by hospitalization of the aging family member: The social service staff at Wesley Woods Geriatric Hospital wished to evaluate their services and explore the impact of a family conference conducted by a social worker/registered nurse ream on the needs experienced by the family members of patients in psychiatry and neuropsychiatry units. A search of the current literature, however, revealed a lack of reliable and valid instruments designed ro measure the perceived needs of caregivers of hospitalized geriatric patients. Therefore, the development of an instrument that could measure the perceived psychoeducational needs of such caregivers was undertaken. The Needs Inventory for Caregivers of Hospitalized Elders (NICHE) was field-tested and support for the instrument's validity and reliability was found.