From our friends at the Family Caregivers Alliance comes the following bulletin.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Includes Caregiver Questions in National Health Survey Questionnaire

The CDC has approved an optional state module on family caregiving for the 2009 Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance Survey (BRFSS), an ongoing telephone health survey system. The 2009 BRFSS will include one mandatory question to identify the prevalence of informal caregiving in the states. The mandatory question asks whether the survey respondent is providing care or assistance to a friend or relative with a health problem, long-term illness or disability. The optional caregiving module in the 2009 survey includes nine questions that states can include in their BRFSS survey in order to collect more detailed information about the particular caregiving situation to aid in program planning and policy development. States are currently in the process of putting together their BRFSS surveys for 2009.