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DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN DEMENTED AND PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS WITH THE DUTCH VERSION OF THE IQCODE
Author(s) -
DE JONGHE JOS F. M.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
international journal of geriatric psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1166
pISSN - 0885-6230
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1166(199704)12:4<462::aid-gps510>3.0.co;2-q
Subject(s) - dementia , psychometrics , psychology , psychiatry , cognition , test validity , mood , rating scale , clinical psychology , gerontology , medicine , developmental psychology , disease
This study presents psychometric data on the Dutch version of the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE‐N). We focused on differentiating between inpatients with dementia or a mood/psychotic disorder. A cutoff point of 3.9 on the IQCODE‐N correctly predicted group membership in 87.8% and 78.8% respectively. Internal consistency and principal component analysis suggest that the IQCODE‐N measures a unidimensional construct. Correlations with a Dementia Screening Test (r=0.62), nurses' observations on memory disorders (r=0.71) and a global assessment of severity of dementia (r=0.72) support the validity of the informant ratings. Patients' age and level of education did not confound informant ratings. Only a small fraction of the informants could not complete the IQCODE‐N, which makes it an easily applicable rating scale for cognitive decline. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.