[Validity and reliability of the Japanese Version of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Nursing Home Version (NPI-NH)].
OBJECTIVE
Neuropsychiatric disturbances are common and burdensome symptoms of dementia. Assessment and measurement of neuropsychiatric disturbances are indispensable to the management of patients with dementia. Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) is a comprehensive assessment tool that evaluates psychiatric symptoms in dementia. The Nursing Home Version (NPI-NH) of NPI was developed for use in extended care facilitate caring for residents with dementia. We translated the NPI-NH into Japanese and examined their validity and reliability.


METHODS
The subjects were 100 demented inpatients and the nurses in charge of them. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) was conducted with all patients and NPI-NH, Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI), Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD), and Behavior Pathology in Alzheimer's Disease (BEHAVE-AD) Rating Scale were conducted with the nurses. We examined validity of NPI-NH by comparing its score with the CMAI, CSDD, and BEHAVE-AD. In order to evaluate test-retest reliability, NPI-NH was re-adopted to 30 randomly selected nurses in charge inpatients by a different examiner 1 week later.


RESULTS
The frequency score, severity score and occupational disruptiveness score in each NPI-NH item were significantly correlated with the score of the correspondent item in BEHAVE-AD. The agitation score of NPI-NH was significantly correlated with CMAI and the depression score of NPI-NH was significantly correlated with CSDD. Test-retest reliability of the scores of NPI-NH was acceptably high.


CONCLUSIONS
The Japanese version of NPI-NH demonstrated sufficient validity and reliability as well as the original version of them. It is a useful tool for evaluating psychiatric symptoms in demented inpatients.
Shigenobu
Kazue
K
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Asakayama General Hospital, Sakai-ku, Sakai-city, Osaka 590-0018, Japen.
Hirono
Nobutsugu
N
Tabushi
Kaoru
K
Ikeda
Manabu
M
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001526:Behavioral Symptoms; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D009735:Nursing Homes; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014175:Translating