# Development and Validation of the Caregiver Hospital Assessment Tool (CHAT)

> **NIH NIH R03** · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · 2020 · $91,624

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
When older adults are hospitalized due to a major health event, the older adults and our healthcare system rely
on an estimated 40 million family caregivers to assist their loved ones with self-care activities and complex
medical and nursing tasks after hospitalizations. Despite acknowledgement that family caregivers are critical to
patients and our healthcare system, caregivers report dissatisfaction with their identification and needs being
met during the hospitalization process. In turn, caregivers feel ill-equipped to assist in tasks when their loved one
returns home. Assessment of caregivers’ needs, strengths, and resources during hospital care may be
particularly important to inform and target training that will equip them to fulfill the needs of their loved ones at
home. We propose to develop the Caregiver Hospital Assessment Tool (CHAT) which will identify family
caregivers’ needs and guide providers’ clinical decision making for training during hospital care. As a result of
this work, family caregivers can expect to receive recognition and meaningful training during the hospitalization
of their loved one with the help of CHAT. CHAT will be developed based on the recommended caregiver
assessment framework from the National Center on Caregiving at Family Caregiver Alliance and perspectives
from collaborative partners that include family caregivers, leading aging and caregiving scientists, and healthcare
providers and systems. Specifically, for Aim 1 we will develop CHAT and assess content validity from a panel of
experts using quantitative methodology; for Aim 2 we will evaluate face validity of CHAT items from family
caregivers using qualitative methodology; and for Aim 3 we will identify clinical utility and acceptability
considerations from key stakeholders to inform further refinement of CHAT. To address these aims, we will use
a convergent mixed methods approach. In Aim 1, we will survey family caregivers and leading aging and
caregiving scientists to gauge feedback on content, wording, and response format. In Aim 2, we will administer
CHAT and complete interviews with family caregivers to learn their perspectives on clarity and appropriateness
of CHAT. In Aim 3, we will conduct focus groups with frontline providers and healthcare system administrators
to inform the refinement of CHAT, including mechanisms for administering and interpreting CHAT, as well as
barriers and facilitators to implementing CHAT into routine practice. Findings from all three aims will be
synthesized to help strengthen the overall analysis and generate information to refine CHAT. The development
and refinement of CHAT is critical to the next planned grant proposal which will examine dose of CHAT specified
training and the effect of CHAT on family caregivers and older adults. We expect the refined and psychometrically
grounded CHAT will lead to improved knowledge, skills, and abilities of family caregivers. Family caregivers that
are well-prepared have ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9890544
- **Project number:** 1R03AG062848-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
- **Principal Investigator:** Beth Fields
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $91,624
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-06-01 → 2022-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9890544

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9890544, Development and Validation of the Caregiver Hospital Assessment Tool (CHAT) (1R03AG062848-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9890544. Licensed CC0.

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