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The validity of informant histories in a community study of dementia
Author(s) -
O'Connor D. W.,
Pollitt P. A.,
Brook C. P. B.,
Reiss B. B.
Publication year - 1989
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/gps.930040405
Subject(s) - dementia , psychology , cognition , consistency (knowledge bases) , psychometrics , clinical psychology , internal consistency , psychiatry , gerontology , medicine , disease , geometry , mathematics , pathology
The CAMDEX is a structured interview schedule intended for use in community studies of dementia. It includes an informant interview in addition to a mental status examination and cognitive testing. In a Cambridge dementia prevalence study, the information given by informants, most of whom were relatives, was highly consistent with elderly subjects' scores on cognitive testing and with the observations made by research psychiatrists. Their reports were in serious disagreement with other parts of the asessment in only a small number of cases. Neither social class nor the relationship between informant and subject appeared to have any bearing on the consistency of informants' reports.