Modified Caregiver Strain Index (MCSI)

The Modified Caregiver Strain Index (MCSI) is a short questionnaire for family members and others caring for an older adult. Thirteen statements describe things caregivers commonly find hard, such as disturbed sleep, physical strain, feeling confined, and upsetting changes in the person being cared for. The caregiver marks each one as yes on a regular basis, yes sometimes, or no.

Responses are scored 2, 1, and 0, giving a total from 0 to 26, where a higher score means more strain. There are no cutoffs for low, moderate, or high strain, so the number is a prompt for clinical judgment rather than a verdict. The items span five domains, including financial, physical, psychological, social, and personal, so the tool picks up pressures that a single question about coping would miss.

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