The Kingston Standardized Behavioural Assessment

The Kingston Standardized Behavioural Assessment (KSBA), a behavioral screening tool that assesses the behavioral changes associated with dementia, particularly Alzheimer's disease (AD), is introduced. Designed to be user friendly for clinicians not trained in specialized behavioral assessment techniques, it addresses some of the problems of existing scales. A group of patients diagnosed with probable AD, vascular dementia, or mixed (AD and vascular) was assessed using the KSBA. A subgroup was also given the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI). Behavioral profiles and scores were obtained for all subjects. Factor analysis revealed 2 factors described as neuropsychiatric and neuropsychological. The KSBA efficiently collects neuropsychological and neuropsychiatric behavioral symptoms of dementia, is easy to score and interpret, and yields a behavioral profile that helps identify target behaviors for intervention. It can be used to facilitate clinical decision making around level of care and can be easily incorporated into clinically based research.