The Psychogeriatric Assessment Scales: a multi-dimensional alternative to categorical diagnoses of dementia and depression in the elderly

The Psychogeriatric Assessment Scales (PAS) provide an assessment of the clinical changes seen in dementia and depression. Principal components analysis and latent trait analysis were used to develop a set of scales to summarize these clinical changes. There are three scales derived from an intervie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPsychological medicine Vol. 25; no. 3; p. 447
Main Authors Jorm, A F, Mackinnon, A J, Henderson, A S, Scott, R, Christensen, H, Korten, A E, Cullen, J S, Mulligan, R
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England 01.05.1995
Subjects
Activities of Daily Living - classification
Activities of Daily Living - psychology
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Dementia - classification
Dementia - diagnosis
Dementia - psychology
Depressive Disorder - classification
Depressive Disorder - diagnosis
Depressive Disorder - psychology
Female
Geriatric Assessment
Humans
Interview, Psychological
Male
Neuropsychological Tests - statistics & numerical data
Personality Assessment - statistics & numerical data
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales - statistics & numerical data
Psychometrics
Reference Values
Reproducibility of Results
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Summary:The Psychogeriatric Assessment Scales (PAS) provide an assessment of the clinical changes seen in dementia and depression. Principal components analysis and latent trait analysis were used to develop a set of scales to summarize these clinical changes. There are three scales derived from an interview with the subject (Cognitive Impairment, Depression, Stroke) and three from an interview with an informant (Cognitive Decline, Behaviour Change, Stroke). Results are reported on the reliability and validity of these scales using data from clinical samples in Sydney and Geneva and a population sample from Canberra. The scales were found to have excellent validity when judged against clinical diagnoses of dementia and depression and could distinguish Alzheimer's from vascular dementia. Cut-off points were developed to indicate correspondence between scale scores and clinical diagnoses. Percentile rank norms were developed from the Canberra population sample. The PAS is easy to administer and score and can be used by lay interviewers after training. It is intended for application both in research and in services for the elderly.
ISSN:0033-2917