BACKGROUND: Despite the high true prevalence of dementia, demential disorders of residents of old age homes may often be not recognized. There is a need for a standardised tool which includes observations of nursing staff. OBJECTIVE: To describe and validate the Dementia Screening Scale (DSS) for use by nursing staff in old-age homes. METHODS: All residents of 20 randomly selected old age homes in the city of Mannheim, Germany (n = 1, 922) were rated by nurses using the seven-item proxy dementia rating scale. Based on a subset of residents (n = 598) the DSS was validated against independent diagnostic assessments made by trained psychologists including the Mini-Mental-State-Examination (MMSE), the Dementia Scale of the Brief Assessment Schedule (BAS DEM), and the Washington University Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR). RESULTS: Using the CDR as a gold standard, the DSS correctly classified at a cut-off of 2/3, 85.8% of the mildly, moderately, or severely demented residents. The accuracy of the DSS was only a little worse than that of the MMSE and the BAS DEM. CONCLUSION: The DSS is well-suited for the recognition of dementia in old age homes. It achieved a better validity than global diagnosis-related staff assessments and compared to performance-based instruments. It is easier to apply, more economic, and associated with a fewer rate of non-response.
BACKGROUND: Despite the high true prevalence of dementia, demential disorders of residents of old age homes may often be not recognized. There is a need for a standardised tool which includes observations of nursing staff. OBJECTIVE: To describe and validate the Dementia Screening Scale (DSS) for use by nursing staff in old-age homes. METHODS: All residents of 20 randomly selected old age homes in the city of Mannheim, Germany (n = 1, 922) were rated by nurses using the seven-item proxy dementia rating scale. Based on a subset of residents (n = 598) the DSS was validated against independent diagnostic assessments made by trained psychologists including the Mini-Mental-State-Examination (MMSE), the Dementia Scale of the Brief Assessment Schedule (BAS DEM), and the Washington University Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR). RESULTS: Using the CDR as a gold standard, the DSS correctly classified at a cut-off of 2/3, 85.8% of the mildly, moderately, or severely demented residents. The accuracy of the DSS was only a little worse than that of the MMSE and the BAS DEM. CONCLUSION: The DSS is well-suited for the recognition of dementia in old age homes. It achieved a better validity than global diagnosis-related staff assessments and compared to performance-based instruments. It is easier to apply, more economic, and associated with a fewer rate of non-response.
Authors: Karl Pillemer; Emily K Chen; Kimberly S Van Haitsma; Jeanne Teresi; Mildred Ramirez; Stephanie Silver; Gail Sukha; Mark S Lachs Journal: Gerontologist Date: 2011-11-01
Authors: Eva Mann; Burkhard Haastert; Birgit Böhmdorfer; Thomas Frühwald; Bernhard Iglseder; Regina Roller-Wirnsberger; Gabriele Meyer Journal: Wien Klin Wochenschr Date: 2013-03-28 Impact factor: 1.704
Authors: Rebecca Palm; Saskia Jünger; Sven Reuther; Christian G G Schwab; Martin N Dichter; Bernhard Holle; Margareta Halek Journal: BMC Geriatr Date: 2016-04-05 Impact factor: 3.921