Caregiver Distress

Identifying Attributes

Care Settings
Home Care
Country
Canada
Publishing Organisation
Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI): Home care reporting system (HCRS)
Type of Quality Indicator
Outcome
IOM Quality Dimension
Person-Centredness
Domain
Caregiver Distress

Defining Attributes

Definition

Percentage of long-stay home care clients whose unpaid caregivers experience distress in a 1-year period.

Numerator

Total number of home care clients who, at the time of their most recent assessment in the given year, have an unpaid caregiver who is experiencing distress as given by assessments with Caregiver status coded as unable to continue in caring activities and/or Primary caregiver status coded as expresses feelings of distress, anger or depression.

Denominator

Total number of long-stay home care clients with a caregiver at the time of their most recent assessment in the given year.

Exclusions

Assessments with "initial assessment" as the reason for the assessment, those conducted fewer than 60 days from the date the case opened to the assessment date or conducted in a hospital setting, assessments of clients younger than 18 years and assessments with a date of assessment that is not the most recent, if a client has more than one assessment in a fiscal year.

Use of Risk Adjustment
Yes
Risk Adjustments

Risk adjustment at individual client level (individual covariates) and home care organizational level (direct standardisation). Activities of Daily Living Self-Performance Hierarchy Scale (ADL Hierarchy), Cognitive Performance Scale (CPS), Changes in Health, End-Stage Disease and Signs and Symptoms (CHESS).

Stratifications

Cognitive performance scale score.

Data Attributes

Type of Data Collection
Standardised clinical data
Data Collection Methods

The Resident Assessment Instrument-Home Care (RAI-HC) or the interRAI-Contact Assessment (interRAI-CA), collected by designated assessors, registered healthcare providers. Not all individuals accepted for publicly funded home care services receive a RAI-HC assessment. The HCRS standard expects that a RAI-HC assessment will be carried out on clients admitted to a long-term home care program: it should be completed upon admission to long-term home care and at regular reassessment intervals (usually 6 months to 1 year), or when the client experiences a significant change in clinical status.

Frequency of Data Collection
90 days
Frequency of Data Collection in Days
90
Reporting Methods

HCRS based on 2 consecutive quarters (to ensure minimum number of assessments to apply risk adjustment procedures). CIHI is transitioning to the Integrated interRAI Reporting System (IRRS) for long-term care (LTC) and home care data. As a result, CIHI will decommission the previous reporting systems for home care (HCRS and HCRS-CA) by March 2025. Reported at National, Province/Territory level.

Reporting Frequency
90 days
Reporting Frequency in Days
90
Indicator Has Recommended Targets
No

Source and Reference Attributes

Evidence Source

Canadian Institute for Health Information. Caregiver Distress. Accessed September 28, 2023. www.cihi.ca/en/indicators/caregiver-distress

Canadian Institute for Health Information. Home Care Reporting System — Contact Assessment: Output Specifications, 2021–2022. Ottawa, ON: CIHI; 2021.
www.cihi.ca/sites/default/files/document/hcqi-infosheet-en-web.pdf

Technical Specifications

Restricted access to Resident Assessment Instrument-Home Care (RAI-HC) User's Manual, Canadian version secure.cihi.ca/estore/productSeries.htm?pc=PCC130&gl=1*4124y5*gaODgxMzkxMDI5LjE2OTIxNDg5NDk.ga44X3CK377B*MTY5NjIxNzg4NC44LjEuMTY5NjIxODA5NS4wLjAuMA..&_ga=2.152660921.1203545925.1696217885-881391029.1692148949 Restricted access to Home Care Reporting System (HCRS) Data Submission Specifications Manual secure.cihi.ca/estore/productSeries.htm?pc=PCC305

Link to Measurement Tools
Quality Indicator Confirmed to be Part of a Program Used to Monitor Quality and Safety of Care Among Older People at a Population-Level between 2012-2022
Yes
Assessed by the Australian Consortium for Aged Care Collaborators as Generally Containing Good Properties (Importance and Scientific Acceptability)
No
Australian Consortium for Aged Care Endorsed
No
Identified by PHARMA-Care Project
No
Upload Date
12 March 2025