Validity and reliability of the dementia behavior disturbance scale

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry

Background:

• Behavioral disturbances are hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.
• Existing assessment tools are often heterogeneous, including non-behavioral symptoms.
• There is a need for a specific, valid measure of behavioral disturbance in dementia.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a new scale, the Dementia Behavior Disturbance (DBD) scale.
• To assess the reliability and validity of the DBD scale in patients with dementia.
• To identify common behavioral disturbances in dementia patients.

Main Methods:

• Development of a 28-item Dementia Behavior Disturbance (DBD) scale.
• Testing the scale in two independent samples of dementia patients (n=50 and n=46).
• Assessing internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and correlation with existing measures (Greene's scale) and disease severity.

Main Results:

• The most frequent behaviors included repetitive questioning, hiding items, apathy, nocturnal wakefulness, accusations, daytime sleeping, and pacing.
• The DBD scale demonstrated strong internal consistency (coefficient > .80) in both samples.
• Test-retest reliability was moderate to high (Pearson's r = .71), and DBD scores correlated with Greene's scale and disease duration/severity.

Conclusions:

• The 28-item Dementia Behavior Disturbance (DBD) scale is a reliable and valid instrument.
• The DBD scale specifically measures behavioral disturbance, a key dimension of dementia.
• This scale may be a valuable tool for assessing and managing dementia-related behavioral symptoms.