Developing the Person-Environment Apathy Rating for persons with dementia

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Psychometrics
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Dementia care often overlooks the interplay between environmental factors and apathy.
• Existing scales may not concurrently assess environmental stimulation and apathy in individuals with dementia.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the Person-Environment Apathy Rating (PEAR) scale.
• To measure environmental stimulation and apathy in persons with dementia.
• To evaluate the psychometric properties of the PEAR scale.

Main Methods:

• Developed the PEAR scale through literature review, field testing, expert review, and pilot testing.
• Examined construct validity and reliability using video observations of 24 institutionalized residents with dementia.
• Validated subscales against established measures like the Ambiance Scale, Crowding Index, NPI-Apathy, PDS, and NPI-Depression.

Main Results:

• The PEAR scale comprises two six-item subscales: PEAR-Environment and PEAR-Apathy.
• PEAR-Apathy demonstrated good convergent and moderate discriminant validity with established apathy and depression measures.
• Both subscales showed excellent internal consistency and good to excellent inter-rater and intra-rater reliability.

Conclusions:

• The PEAR scale is a novel instrument for concurrently assessing apathy and environmental stimulation in individuals with dementia.
• The scale has demonstrated sound psychometric properties, supporting its use in clinical and research settings.
• The PEAR scale is recommended for use in dementia care to better understand the person-environment interaction.