title: Apathy in dementia: an examination of the psychometric properties of the apathy evaluation scale.
abstract: The psychometric properties of the clinician, informant, and self-rated versions of the Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES-C/I/S) were examined using data on 121 outpatients seen in a behavioral neurology clinic for the assessment of dementia and associated neuropsychiatric disorders. Two factors, apathy and interest, were identified for the AES-C and the AES-I. The AES-S had only an apathy factor. The AES-C was found to have fairly good psychometric properties. However, from a diagnostic point of view, the AES-I provided the greatest sensitivity and the strongest positive and negative predictive values. Generally, the AES-S performed poorly compared with the AES-C and AES-I.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Room 802, 624 North Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. diana.clarke@utoronto.ca
authors.forename: Diana E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.forename: Robert van
authors.initials: Rv
authors.lastname: Reekum
authors.forename: Martine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Simard
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Streiner
authors.forename: Morris
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Freedman
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Conn
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D003704:Dementia / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012649:Self Concept; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed