Table 2.

Summary of measures of financial strain used in reviewed studies

Category of financial strain measure	Number of studies (Number of papers)	Number of items	Cronbach α range
Single item
Lacking basic needs	36 (54)	1	N/A
Difficulty making ends meet	50 (75)	1	N/A
Multiple items
Lacking basic needs	75 (136)	2–26	0.71 – 0.96
Difficulty making ends meet	80 (108)	2–22	0.63 – 0.94
Both lacking basic needs and difficulty making ends meet	52 (74)	2–37	0.61 – 0.95