title: Retrospective accounts of dementia symptoms: are they reliable?
abstract: Relatives of patients with dementia completed questionnaires about caregiver stress and patients' functional and psychiatric problems during an initial evaluation, at follow-up 4 to 17 months later, and retrospectively (i.e., based on recall of symptoms and behaviors at the initial assessment). Retrospective accounts correlated well with initial reports, particularly with larger scales including a wider range of alternative responses, but psychiatric symptoms were underreported in the retrospective accounts. Spouses tended to report lower levels of psychiatric symptoms than did younger relatives.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: La Rue
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Plotkin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers; D003704:Dementia; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires