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P2‐240: Development of a new scale measuring psychological impact of genetic susceptibility testing for Alzheimer's disease
Author(s) -
Stern Robert A.,
Chung Winston W.,
Chen Clara A.,
Cupples L. Adrienne,
Roberts J. Scott,
Hiraki Susan C.,
Nair Anil K.,
Green Robert C.
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.2008.05.1315
Subject(s) - clinical psychology , psychology , genetic testing , disease , construct validity , beck hopelessness scale , cronbach's alpha , anxiety , beck depression inventory , medicine , psychometrics , psychiatry , pathology
score was 4.97 (SD 5.32; range 0-20) with Cronbach’s alpha 0.92. In comparison, a separate population-based cohort of 205 women aged 65 years (mean 74.4; SD 5.5; range 65-86) had a mean GAI score of 2.32 (SD 4.03; range 0-19); a separate clinical sample of 46 male and female psychogeriatric patients (mean age 78.8 years; SD 6.7; range 66-94) had a mean GAI score of 5.22 (SD 5.83). As expected, GAI score was correlated with NPI anxiety severity (r 0.31; p 0.0037), NPI anxiety distress (r 0.32; p 0.0031) and GDS (r 0.62; p 0.000). GAI was also correlated with Barthel score (r -0.2837; p 0.0118), and leisure activities score (r 0.32; p 0.0050). Conclusions: The mean levels of clinic attendees’ self-reported anxiety were much higher than those reported by normal older volunteers but somewhat lower than those reported by psychogeriatric patients. Higher levels of anxiety were reported by patients with higher levels of physical dependency whereas lower levels of anxiety were reported by patients with greater involvement in leisure activities.