Skip to content

Assessments

GiveCare uses four validated instruments, administered progressively to build a complete picture of caregiver wellbeing without overwhelming anyone at signup.

Instrument overview

ID Name Items Time Framing Administration
sdoh6 SDOH six-domain snapshot 6 (1 per zone) ~2 min Deficit At SMS signup
ema3 Daily wellbeing micro-check 3 ~30 sec Mixed Daily via SMS
cwbs14 Caregiver Well-Being Scale, short form 14 ~5 min Strength Monthly via SMS
sdoh30 GC-SDOH-30 adaptive deep-dive Up to 30 (5 per zone) 5-6 min Deficit Per flagged zone

SDOH-6 snapshot (sdoh6)

One question per zone, providing a quick baseline across all six dimensions. Takes approximately 2 minutes. Administered at SMS signup to immediately identify which zones need attention.

The snapshot determines which zones warrant a full deep-dive via the GC-SDOH-30.

EMA-3 daily check (ema3)

Three daily items delivered via SMS:

  1. Stress — current pressure level (deficit-framed)
  2. Mood — emotional state (strength-framed)
  3. Coping — perceived ability to manage (strength-framed)

Designed for ecological momentary assessment — capturing state in the moment rather than retrospective recall. Short enough to complete in a single SMS exchange without creating additional caregiver burden.

EMA-3 data feeds the GiveCare Score daily, enabling trend detection and spike alerts.

CWBS-14 (cwbs14)

The Caregiver Well-Being Scale short form. 14 items scored 1-5, measuring positive caregiver capacity.

Copyright: Susan Tebb, Marla Berg-Weger, Doris M. Rubio (1999, revised 2012)2.

Citation: Tebb SC, Berg-Weger M, Rubio DM. "The Caregiver Well-Being Scale Revisited." Health & Social Work 38(4), 2013.

This is the only strength-framed instrument in the battery. It measures what is working — social support quality, self-efficacy, life satisfaction — rather than what is breaking down. Administered monthly to track positive capacity over time.

GC-SDOH-30 (sdoh30)

The flagship assessment. 30 questions across 6 zones, 5 questions per zone, on a 5-point scale (0-4, deficit-framed). Estimated completion: 5-6 minutes.

Evidence base

The GC-SDOH-30 adapts validated clinical SDOH instruments for caregiver populations:

Source Domains informed
PRAPARE3 P1 (Social Support), P3 (Housing), P4 (Financial)
AHC Screening4 P3 (Housing), P4 (Financial)
USDA Food Security Survey Module P4 (Financial)
NAM SDOH Framework5 Overall structure, domain selection
CMS Social Determinants Guidelines Framing, clinical integration approach

Adaptive administration

The GC-SDOH-30 is not administered as a monolithic 30-question block. It is administered selectively per flagged zone:

  1. The SDOH-6 snapshot identifies zones scoring below threshold
  2. Only flagged zones receive the full 5-question deep-dive
  3. A caregiver with one flagged zone answers 5 additional questions, not 30

This adaptive approach respects caregiver time and cognitive load while ensuring depth where it matters.

Zone mapping

Zone Domain Questions
P1 Social Support 5
P2 Physical Health 5
P3 Housing & Environment 5
P4 Financial Resources 5
P5 Legal & Navigation 5
P6 Emotional Wellbeing 5

See Zones (P1-P6) for zone definitions, weights, and scoring thresholds.

Open source

The GC-SDOH-30 is open-sourced in the care-tools/ repository, available for other organizations working with caregiver populations. See the SDOH Framework for the conceptual rationale.

Progressive administration flow

flowchart TD
    A["Website visit"] -->|"BSFC-s (10 items)"| B["Initial burden estimate"]
    B --> C["SMS signup"]
    C -->|"SDOH-6 (6 items)"| D["Zone baseline"]
    D -->|"CWBS-14 monthly"| E["Wellbeing tracking"]
    E -->|"EMA-3 daily"| F["Trend monitoring"]
    F -->|"SDOH-30 per flagged zone"| G["Targeted deep-dive"]

The instruments are sequenced to:

  1. Minimize initial friction — BSFC-s1 on the website is the lightest entry point
  2. Build trust before depth — SDOH-6 at signup, full SDOH-30 only after engagement
  3. Match frequency to volatility — EMA-3 daily (mood changes fast), CWBS-14 monthly (wellbeing shifts slowly)
  4. Target depth where needed — SDOH-30 only for flagged zones, not blanket assessment

All instrument scores feed into the composite GiveCare Score.

  1. Graessel E et al. "Burden Scale for Family Caregivers (BSFC-s)." University of Erlangen. Source → ↩

  2. Tebb SC, Berg-Weger M, Rubio DM. "The Caregiver Well-Being Scale Revisited." Health & Social Work 38(4), 2013. Source → ↩

  3. NACHC. "PRAPARE Implementation and Action Toolkit." 2019. Source → ↩

  4. CMS. "Accountable Health Communities Health-Related Social Needs Screening Tool." Source → ↩

  5. NAM. "Social Determinants of Health Framework." 2017. Source → ↩