The Perceived Family Burden Scale

THE PERCEIVED FAMILY BURDEN SCALE

W.LANCEE, MV.SEEMAN, J.LEVENE

Instruction: Please rate the following: 1) Indicate if the behavior is displayed by your relative who suffers from schizophrenia; 2) Indicate the extent to which the behavior bothers you. (The time period considered is the past month).

A B

Mark an “x” if Indicate degree to which behavior bothered you

behavior is present

Not at all / A little / Considerably / A great deal / DK
looks fearful
looks sad
mopes
refuses meds
refuses help
refuses food
talk loudly
yells
stays in bed
hardly talks
looks messy
talks nonsense
threatens suicide
acts suspicious
uses abusive language
threatens violence
throws things
harasses others
blames others
harms self
laughs frequently
abuses drugs
paces
smokes too much

Other Behaviors/Comments:

JL/jg - A2004

THE PERCEIVED FAMILY BURDEN SCALE

INSTRUCTIONS FOR RATERS

The Perceived Family Burden Scale is rated on a five point scale, with a range from 0 to 5.

Ratings:

0 = the behaviour isn’t present and doesn’t bother the relative

1 = the behaviour is present and doesn’t bother the relative

2 = the behaviour is present and bothers the relative “a little”.

3 = the behaviour is present and bothers the relative “considerably”.

4 = the behaviour is present and bothers the relative “a great deal”.

In our study, we derived three variables which were used in the validation study:

1) the total score

2) an “objective score” (the number of problem behaviours identified by the informant).

3) a “subjective score” (the extent to which the behaviour “bothers” the relative).

JL/jg - April 2004