[Construction and validation of a scale to assess attitudes toward patients with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders].
BACKGROUND
Patients suffering from dementia are often subjected to discriminatory attitudes, but there are few instruments able to measure these.


OBJECTIVE
the construction and validation of a scale to detect negative attitudes toward patients with dementia and determine its psychometric properties, reliability criteria, and convergent and divergent validity.


METHODS
Fifty subjects were recruited for item selection. The scale was validated using 296 subjects of both genders, and included psychology, medical and nursing students.


METHODS
A Likert-type attitudes scale of 30 items with 7 answers options was developed. After the pilot analysis of the scale and total item-item correlation a definitive tool of 20 items was developed, with a Cronbach's alpha index of 0.89. After the main component analysis, a 3 factors solution was preferred (rejection, effect and experience), which alone could explain the 65.7% of the total variance. Confirmatory factorial analysis with structural equations showed good fitting indexes (CFI=0.92; GFI=0.94; AGFI=0.90; PGFI=0.91; RMSEA=0.05). Convergent validation showed a positive correlation with scales measuring attitudes toward dementia, handicapped people, aging, and a questionnaire on negative stereotypes toward aging.


RESULTS
Higher education and previous contact with the elderly were associated with more positive attitudes (F=29.16 and z=12.45, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
The attitudes toward dementia scale is a valid and reliable instrument to detect these in the general population.
Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina. danielserrani@argentina.com
Daniel
D
Serrani
D000328:Adult; D000544:Alzheimer Disease; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003704:Dementia; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008511:Medicine; D008875:Middle Aged; D009729:Nursing; D011584:Psychology; D011594:Psychometrics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult