NU475's Unit 5 assessment scores one composite wife with the Zarit Burden Interview and the Preparedness for Caregiving Scale, then weighs her capacity task by task against the discharge plan. Searches like "nu 475 unit 5 assignment example", "nu475 unit 5 sample" and "nu475 unit 5 example" land here.
Heavy Load, Never Shown How: A Caregiver Assessment of a 70-Year-Old Wife With Two Arthritic Knees
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
NU475: Providing Transition Care - Chronic Disease and Palliative/Hospice Spheres
Unit 5 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Composite caregiver and patient written as a model document. Scores are illustrative and bracketed.
Background
Only what bears on her capacity is recorded here. She is 70, with type 2 diabetes and osteoarthritis in both knees, which makes stairs and long standing painful. She works [15] hours a week in the church office and wants to keep the job, which she describes as "the only place I'm not a nurse." Their son lives [45] minutes away and works rotating shifts at a distribution center. Paracentesis is done at the liver center, [50] miles away by interstate, which she has not driven since [2018]. Her husband, the retired mail carrier, was discharged [two] weeks ago after his first episode of hepatic encephalopathy.
Scores
Burden. The 22-item Zarit Burden Interview, which grew out of the burden measure Zarit and colleagues first reported for relatives of older adults with dementia (Zarit et al., 1980), scores each item from 0 to 4. Her total is [34] of 88, which falls in the range commonly read as mild to moderate burden. Her highest items: too little time left for her own life, and strain between caring and her other responsibilities.
Preparedness. The eight-item Preparedness for Caregiving Scale asks how well prepared the caregiver feels for aspects of care, from 0, not at all, to 4, very well (Archbold et al., 1990). Her mean is [1.6]. Her lowest items, both [0]: how well prepared she is to handle emergencies, and to get help and information from the health care system.
The two scores point to different fixes: a heavy load calls for taking tasks away or bringing help in, while low preparedness says she has not been shown how, which teaching can change and respite cannot. The difference matters because strain carries its own risk. Husbands and wives who felt strained by caring for a spouse died at a higher rate over four years than married people with no caregiving role, in a prospective study of older adults (Schulz & Beach, 1999).
Task Grid
Each task from the transition plan is rated for frequency and skill, recorded with her confidence in her own words, and given one of three verdicts: carry, carry with support, or reassign.
1. Count his stools and adjust [lactulose]. Daily. Skill: moderate. Her words: "I know what to do, I just hate asking him." Verdict: carry with support.
2. Weigh him each morning and log it. Daily. Skill: low. "That's easy." Verdict: carry.
3. Cook to his sodium limit. Daily. Skill: moderate. "I don't know what's in anything." Verdict: carry with support.
4. Set up his medicines. Weekly. Skill: moderate. "Nine bottles is a lot." Verdict: carry with support, using pharmacy blister packs.
5. Watch for confusion overnight. Nightly. Skill: moderate. "I can't be up all night and work." Verdict: reassign.
6. Drive to paracentesis. Every [10] to [14] days. Skill: interstate driving. "I won't do the highway." Verdict: reassign.
7. Drive to hepatology visits. Monthly. Skill: interstate driving. Verdict: reassign.
8. Take him to local lab draws. As ordered. Skill: low. Verdict: carry.
9. Pick up [rifaximin] and other refills. Monthly. Skill: low. Verdict: carry.
10. Call the clinic when a warning sign appears. As needed. Skill: moderate. "I never know who to call." Verdict: carry with support.
11. Help him bathe. Three times a week. Skill: physical. "My knees can't take the tub." Verdict: carry with support, with a shower chair and home health aide visits.
Stool counting is rated carry with support rather than reassign because her difficulty is embarrassment, not skill. A nurse can help by rehearsing the question with her and giving her a simple log, so the count becomes a routine rather than a conversation.
Recommendations
The recommendations change the plan rather than asking more of her.
Move paracentesis and hepatology appointments to the son's days off, and add the county paratransit service as a fallback for days he works.
Switch to pharmacy blister packs, so she no longer fills a pill organizer from nine bottles.
Refer to the local Area Agency on Aging for the National Family Caregiver Support Program, funded under the Older Americans Act, which can provide respite, counseling and caregiver training.
For overnight confusion, teach her the two signs that should prompt a call, and arrange for their son to stay over on nights after a lactulose dose change, rather than asking her to watch all night.
Give her a single phone number for the liver clinic's nurse line, written on the refrigerator sheet, to address her lowest preparedness item.
Recording Her Role
Many states have passed CARE Act laws requiring hospitals to record the name of a family caregiver, notify that person before discharge and offer instruction in the medical tasks they will perform at home. Whether or not his state requires it, her name, her role and the tasks she agreed to carry belong in his chart, with a note of the tasks reassigned, so that the next admission starts from this assessment rather than from the assumption that she can do everything.
References
Archbold, P. G., Stewart, B. J., Greenlick, M. R., & Harvath, T. (1990). Mutuality and preparedness as predictors of caregiver role strain. Research in Nursing & Health, 13(6), 375-384. https://doi.org/10.1002/nur.4770130605
Schulz, R., & Beach, S. R. (1999). Caregiving as a risk factor for mortality: The Caregiver Health Effects Study. JAMA, 282(23), 2215-2219. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.282.23.2215
Zarit, S. H., Reever, K. E., & Bach-Peterson, J. (1980). Relatives of the impaired elderly: Correlates of feelings of burden. The Gerontologist, 20(6), 649-655. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/20.6.649
How this NU475 Unit 5 example is structured
Burden and preparedness are reported separately, because they point to different fixes. A moderate burden score says the load is heavy; low preparedness says she has not been shown how, which teaching can change and respite cannot. The analysis makes that distinction explicit before touching the grid. Within the grid, the overnight confusion watch and the paracentesis drives are the two tasks judged beyond her, the first because she cannot stay awake and still work, the second because of the interstate. Stool counting is rated carry with support, since her difficulty is embarrassment rather than skill. The recommendations then change the plan rather than the caregiver: procedures moved to the son's day off, pharmacy blister packs, and caregiver support funded under the Older Americans Act. A closing paragraph notes where state CARE Act provisions require the hospital to record and instruct her.
Get an NU475 Unit 5 example written to your instructions
Caregiver details are the easiest part of a case to make composite and the hardest to invent convincingly, so even a rough sketch of the household helps. Add the assessment instructions and any required instrument; the sample returns in 24-48h with scores interpreted, tasks graded and the plan revised, free on the first request. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
NU475 Unit 5 questions, answered
Which caregiver instrument works best for this assessment?
The Zarit Burden Interview is the most widely recognized and comes in 22-item and shorter versions. Pairing it with the Preparedness for Caregiving Scale, as the sample does, separates how heavy the load feels from how ready the caregiver is. The Modified Caregiver Strain Index is another common choice. Use whatever your course names, and cite the version you scored.
Do I need permission to use these scales?
For a course paper with a composite caregiver, you are describing the instrument and illustrative scores rather than administering it, and citing the source is normally what instructors expect. Some instruments are copyrighted for clinical or research use, so reproducing every item may be restricted. The sample names the items it discusses and cites the original authors instead of printing the full form.
What if the caregiver is an adult child, not a spouse?
The method holds while the capacity picture shifts. An adult child may be working full-time, raising children or living in another city, and those constraints decide which tasks are realistic. Send the household your prompt describes and the task grid will be rebuilt around that person's hours, skills, distance and own health rather than the spouse shown here.