title: Concordance between observers in descriptions of personality change in Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: To evaluate observer bias and to estimate observer concordance for descriptions of personality changes in dementia, the authors examined the personality descriptions of dementia patients provided by 2 informants. Twenty-two patients with Alzheimer's disease were rated on the NEO-PI by each of 2 informants, the primary caregiver and another relative or friend. Each informant completed the NEO-PI to describe current behavior and premorbid behavior. Significant differences between premorbid and current descriptions were found for 4 of the 5 personality dimensions measured. There was substantial agreement between independent raters, as indicated by significant correlations between raters for 4 dimensions and the absence of significant differences between rater averages. These results suggest that both primary caregivers and others who know a patient well may serve as informants for studies of personality in dementia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7123.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Strauss
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pasupathi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chatterjee
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D011581:Psychological Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires