title: Assessment by nurses of mood, general behaviour and functional ability in patients with dementia receiving nursing home care.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability of the Patient Mood Assessment Scale (PMAS), the General Behaviour Assessment Scale (GBAS) and the Gottfries Bråne Steen scale and to investigate mood, general behaviour, degree of dementia and symptoms for patients with dementia living permanently in nursing home care (n = 75). Interviews were conducted with the contact nurses, focussing on their view of the patients during the preceding week, based on the above-mentioned assessment scales. In 29 cases a second interview was conducted with another nurse in order to investigate the inter-rater reliability. The inter-rater reliability was high for items associated with ADL and intellectual functions, but low for items associated with emotional aspects. The nurses' difficulties in assessing the patients' emotional state could arise because these matters are not regularly discussed among the staff or could reflect the nurse's inner state rather than that of the patient. The varying understanding that the nurses had of the patients raises the question of whether the care provided is based on the nurses' opinions rather than on the patients' needs. There is a need for continuous and reflective discussions in the staff group, focusing on the patients' physical as well as emotional needs.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Caring Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden. anna-karin.edberg@cvv.lu.se
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Edberg
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000339:Affect; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000145:classification / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D001519:Behavior; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013548:Sweden