Premium
P2‐237: A toolkit for assessing the quality of life of people with dementia and improving dementia care
Author(s) -
Edelman Perry
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2008.05.1312
Subject(s) - dementia , observational study , debriefing , quality of life (healthcare) , scale (ratio) , data collection , psychology , observational methods in psychology , medicine , nursing , gerontology , medical education , disease , statistics , physics , mathematics , pathology , quantum mechanics
translated and adapted into Portuguese. Thirty two mild AD patients, 25 moderate AD patients and 51 elderly without dementia were examined. The AD patients and the control group answered the Minimental State Examination (MMSE), the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and Alzheimer’s disease Assessment Scale (ADAS-cog). The ASHA FACS was answered by their relative/caregiver. The scale internal consistency, its inter and intra-examiners reproducibility and scale’s criterion validity were researched. The effect of education and age in functional communication performance were analyzed. Results: Statistical analyses indicated that the ASHA FACS has excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha 0,955), test-retest reliability (interclass correlation coefficient [ICC] 0,995; p 0,001) and inter-examiners (ICC 0,998; p 0,001). Besides, it showed excellent criterion validity when correlated with Adas-cog. The ASHA FACS scale showed good sensitivity (81.4%) and specificity (84.3%) values once it is an ecological and broad evaluation. It was verified that years of education intervened in functional communication performance of healthy elderly and ones with AD, but the age did not have the same influence on functional communication performance in both groups. Conclusions: The ASHA FACS Portuguese version is a valid and reliable instrument to verify communication alterations in AD patients. It is useful for diagnosis and track alterations along the disease aiming patient’s treatment and relative’s and caregiver’s orientation. It fills an important gap of efficiency indicators for speech language therapy.