The development and validation of a dementia behavior disturbance inventory.
OBJECTIVE
To develop an instrument that measures observable problematic behaviors in patients with dementia.


METHODS
We used focus group interviews to identify the problematic behaviors of patients with dementia. Eighty-two behaviors grouped into 12 domains were generated from the data collected from five different focus groups. After conducting a content validation process, a 72-item Dementia Behavior Disturbance Inventory (DBDI) rated by a frequency and a disturbance scale was formed. The DBDI was administered to 200 institutionalized elderly patients with dementia by formal caregivers for psychometric evaluation.


RESULTS
Inter-item correlation of items in each domain was performed for item reduction. Forty-eight items remained after this procedure. Exploratory factor analysis obtained nine factors that explained 59.2% and 59.6% of the total variance in the frequency and disturbance scales, respectively. Cronbach's alpha of the entire 48-item frequency and disturbance scales was 0.88 and 0.91, respectively. Most of the factors had acceptable internal consistency reliability. Test-re-test reliability coefficients of the frequency and disturbance scales were 0.78 and 0.64, respectively. The DBDI was weakly but positively related to functions of daily activities and ambulation.


CONCLUSIONS
The DBDI demonstrates promising psychometrical properties as an instrument to assess problematic behaviors in elderly people with dementia.
Tang
Li-Yu
LY
College of Nursing, National Yang Ming University, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Yip
Ping-Keung
PK
Wu
En-Chang
EC
Leung
Kai-Kuen
KK
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D017028:Caregivers; D003704:Dementia / Q000523:psychology*; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009679:Nuclear Family; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires