EXPERIENCE OF CAREGIVING INVENTORY
The following pages contain a number of statements that commonly apply to
persons who care for relatives or friends with a serious mental illness.
We would like you to read each one and decide how often it has applied to you
over the past one month.
If it has never happened or rarely happened you would CIRCLE the number 0
or 1. If it has happened sometimes, then you would CIRCLE the number 2. If
it has happened often or seems to have happened nearly always, then you
would CIRCLE the number 3 or 4.
It is important to note that there are no right or wrong answers. Also, it is best
not to spend too long on any one statement. Often your first reaction will
usually provide the best answer. While there seem to be a lot of statements,
you will find that it won't take more than a moment or so to answer each one.
Female version
Experience of Caregiving Inventory (ECI) 1994
Dr G Szmukler, Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ, UK
Reference:
Szmukler, G.I., Burgess, P., Herrman, H., Benson, A., Colusa, S., & Bloch S. (1996) Caring for relatives with
serious mental illness: The development of the ‘Experience of Caregiving Inventory’. Social Psychiatry &
Psychiatric Epidemiology 31:137-148
During the past month how often have you thought about:
0 = never
1= rarely
2= sometimes
3= often
4= nearly always
PLEASE CIRCLE
1. your covering up her illness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
2. feeling unable to tell anyone of the illness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
3. her difficulty looking after money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
4. having to support her . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
5. what sort of life she might have had . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
6. her risk of committing suicide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
7. I have learnt more about myself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
8. I have contributed to others understanding of the illness . . . 01234
9. being unable to do the things you want to do . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
10. how health professionals do not take you seriously . . . . . . . 01234
11. her dependence on you . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
12. helping her to fill in the day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
13. I have contributed to her wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
14. that she makes a valuable contribution the household . . . 01234
15. the effect on your finances if she becomes more seriously ill . 01234
16. dealing with psychiatrists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
17. her always being at the back of your mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
18. whether you have done something to make her ill . . . . . . . . 01234
19. that she has shown strengths in coping with her illness . . . . . . 01234
20. I have become more confident in dealing with others . . . . . . 01234
21. how family members do not understand your situation . . . . . 01234
22. that she is good company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
23. I have become more understanding of others with problems . 01234
24. how she thinks a lot about death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
25. her lost opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
26. how to deal with mental health professionals . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
27. feeling unable to have visitors at home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
28. how she gets on with other family members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
29. backing her up when she runs out of money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
30. how family members do not understand the illness . . . . . . . . 01234
31. how she deliberately attempts to harm herself . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
32. I have become closer to some of my family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
33. I have become closer to friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
34. I share some of her interests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
35. I feel useful in my relationship with her . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
36. how health professionals do not understand your situation . . 01234
During the past month how often have you thought about:
0 = never
1= rarely
2= sometimes
3= often
4= nearly always
PLEASE CIRCLE
37. whether she will ever get well . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
38. feeling the stigma of having a mentally ill relative . . . . . . . . . 01234
39. how to explain her illness to others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
40. others leaving home because of the effect of the illness . . . . 01234
41. setting her up in accommodation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
42. how to make complaints about her care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
43. I have met helpful people . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
44 I have discovered strengths in myself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
45. feeling unable to leave her home alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
46. the effect of the illness on children in the family . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
47. the illness causing a family breakup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
48. her keeping bad company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
49. how her illness effects special family events . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
50. finding out how hospitals or mental health services work . . . . 01234
51. doctors knowledge of the services available to families . . . . . 01234
52. the difficulty getting information about her illness . . . . . . . . . . 01234
During the past month how often have you thought about her being:
53. moody . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
54. unpredictable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
55. withdrawn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
56. uncommunicative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
57. not interested . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
58. slow at doing things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
59. unreliable about doing things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
60. indecisive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
61. irritable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
62. inconsiderate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
63. behaving in a reckless way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
64. suspicious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
65. embarrassing in appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
66. behaving in a strange way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01234
