Carer burden (normative need) was assessed by measuring the severity of dementia and functional dependency of the care recipient, as well as carers' subjective ratings of burden.
This study used Bradshaw's taxonomy of need to explore the link between measures of carer burden (normative need), service use (expressed need), and carer's stated need (felt need).
carers exhibited high levels of normative need on objective carer burden measures, and moderate levels of normative need on subjective carer burden measures.
Results: Before surgery (n = 81), scores for all SF36 subscales (with the exception of mental health) were lower than published normative data, indicating the disease burden of coronary artery disease.
Where available, mean patient population scores on these questionnaires were compared to scores derived from age-matched normative samples to quantify the burden associated with PHN.
We must remain cognizant of the social stigma that still exists for marriages in which the age differential between the partners is not socially "normative", and of the greater burden conferred by going against social conventions.
Carers completed self-report measures on carer burden and stress (normative need measures), indicated their service wants (felt need measures), kept a service usage diary over the 12 week study period (expressed need measures), and participated in three semi-structured interviews, conducted at monthly intervals.
Norm: population based normative values.
However, data from such instruments are valuable for quantifying burden with reference to the normative population and patients with other diseases – data that is important for contextualizing the relative burden associated with HZ and PHN.
Although not matched for a priori health state, evaluating the trauma children vs. a control group, matched for age, gender and proxy characteristics, is probably the closest we can get to 'attributable burden' more so than with normative data.
