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Mapping Caregiver Needs’ Assessment Tools for Family and Friend Caregivers

Ding X et al. "Mapping Caregiver Needs’ Assessment Tools for Family and Friend Caregivers: A Rapid Scoping Review." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 23(3), 300, 2026.

Key findings used in wiki

  • The rapid scoping review included 43 studies describing 19 instruments in 17 instrument families.
  • It distinguished caregiver-defined support needs from related constructs such as burden, strain, preparedness, and care-recipient monitoring.
  • It identified seven recurring support-need domains, including caregiver health, emotional support, information/navigation, practical support, social support, autonomy/participation, and spiritual/cultural needs.
  • Many instruments showed construct drift by measuring stressors or impacts rather than explicitly eliciting caregiver-defined needs.
  • Few tools were designed for longitudinal reassessment, workflow integration, or electronic documentation.
  • The review supports action-linked, workflow-integrated needs assessment, but it does not validate GC-SDOH itself.