title: COMMUNI-CARE: Assessment tool for reactions and behaviours of patients with dementia in a multisensory stimulation environment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The 'Snoezelen' is an approach based on stimulation and sensory stimulation proposals, giving priority to the notion of caretaking. The aim of this paper is to present the creation and validation of the COMMUNI-CARE scale. This is a new tool that allows for an evaluation of the psycho-emotional well-being that the patient with dementia shows in a 'Snoezelen' multisensory stimulation environment.
  
  
  METHODS
  In total 429 evaluations in 143 multisensory stimulation interventions were made using the COMMUNI-CARE scale, in 16 patients between 53 and 85 years of age, diagnosed with moderate to severe dementia. The goal was to evaluate the psycho-emotional well-being the patients present.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The tool's internal consistency showed a Crombach alpha of 0.90. The concurrent validity between the COMMUNI-CARE scale and the Clinical Global Impression (CGI) was of r = -0.961. The Kappa index used to determine the reliability between evaluators was of K = 0.87.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The COMMUNI-CARE scale fulfills the basic principles of classic psychometrics of construct, and criterion validity and reliability. It does so while showing a clear idea, through its five subscales (anxiety, communication, pleasure, adaptation to the surroundings and affection), of the degree of well-being that the patient with dementia shows during such interventions. This scale embodies, through psychometrics, a very subjective human experience with a tool unavailable to date.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatric Psychiatry Sagrat Cor Hospital, Germanes Hospitalàries del Sagrat Cor de Jesús, Martorell, Barcelona, Spain bl.javier@gmail.com.
authors.forename: José Javier Blanco
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Lopez
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatric Psychiatry Sagrat Cor Hospital, Germanes Hospitalàries del Sagrat Cor de Jesús, Martorell, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan Carlos Cejudo
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Bolívar
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatric Psychiatry Sagrat Cor Hospital, Germanes Hospitalàries del Sagrat Cor de Jesús, Martorell, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Manuel Sánchez
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Perez
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003704:Dementia / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D026421:Sensory Art Therapies / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Snoezelen; dementia; emotion-oriented care; multisensory environmental therapy; multisensory stimulation; non-pharmachological therapies in dementia; person-centred care; scale