OBJECTIVES: Family effects and caregiver burden should be included in economic evaluations of child health interventions, but the methods to include these effects remain understudied. This research explores the sensitivity of three generic instruments for preference-weighting health states of family caregivers of children with craniofacial malformation (CFM). METHODS:   Caregivers of children born with CFM were identified through the Arkansas Birth Defects Monitoring System. A survey instrument was mailed that included the Health Utilities Index (HUI3), the 6-Dimension Short-Form (SF-6D), the Quality of Well-being (QWB-SA), and two health-related quality of life measures for caregivers: the CES-D and the CarerQol. The HUI3, the SF-6D, and the QWB-SA were examined in relation to the CES-D, the CarerQol, and each other. RESULTS: 65 parents of minor children responded for a completion rate of 57%. The mean SF-6D, HUI3, QWB-SA scores were 0.80, 0.84, 0.67. The mean CES-D score was 13.3 with 28.6% of the sample scoring 16 or above - a common threshold for depressive symptoms. The mean of the CarerQol was 2.8 (0-not at all caregiving burden; 8-much caregiving burden). The correlations of the HUI3 and the SF-6D with the CES-D were similar (R2's of 0.513, 0.511) while the R2 was only 0.230 for the QWB-SA. There was a significant difference in the preference-weighted scores of caregivers scoring 16 and above on both the SF-6D and the HUI3. All three generic instruments showed moderate relationships with the CarerQol. CONCLUSIONS: The HUI3 and SF-6D are more sensitive among the caregiver group than the QWB-SA. They might be appropriate to use in calculating quality-adjusted life year outcomes for caregivers in economic evaluation of child health interventions. Variation of preference-weighted scores of the generic instruments in caregivers should be further investigated.