Abstract
No Brazilian version of a specific scale for evaluating apathy in dementia is available.
Objectives:
To introduce a translated version of the Apathy Scale (AS) for use with caregivers.
Methods:
The instrument was formally translated and then administered to the caregivers of a small sample of dementia patients, in order to assess scale comprehensibility and make final adjustments. The scale was subsequently administered to the caregivers of a second, independent sample of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. The content validity of the scale was tested by correlating the AS scores with the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) - apathy sub-score and Disability Assessment in Dementia (DAD) total scores.
Results:
The first sample consisted of eleven subjects with dementia, most of whom had AD. The second sample comprised twenty patients with probable or possible AD (10 with mild dementia), a mean age of 84.1±5.8 years, and 2.2±1.6 years of schooling. The AS scores correlated with both NPI-apathy sub-score (r=0.756, p=0.001) and DAD total scores (r=-0.793, p=0.0005).
Conclusions:
The final version had good comprehensibility and correlated strongly with standardized apathy and functional activities of daily living measures.
Key words:
apathy; diagnosis; evaluation; dementia; Alzheimer's disease.