DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN DEMENTED AND PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS WITH THE DUTCH VERSION OF THE IQCODE

✍ Scribed by JOS F. M. DE JONGHE

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 78 KB
• Volume: 12
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6230
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1166(199704)12:4<462::aid-gps510>3.0.co;2-q

✦ Synopsis

This study presents psychometric data on the Dutch version of the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE-N). We focused on dierentiating between inpatients with dementia or a mood/psychotic disorder. A cuto point of 3.9 on the IQCODE-N correctly predicted group membership in 87.8% and 78.8% respectively. Internal consistency and principal component analysis suggest that the IQCODE-N measures a unidimensional construct. Correlations with a Dementia Screening Test (r 0X62), nurses' observations on memory disorders (r 0X71) and a global assessment of severity of dementia (r 0X72) support the validity of the informant ratings. Patients' age and level of education did not confound informant ratings. Only a small fraction of the informants could not complete the IQCODE-N, which makes it an easily applicable rating scale for cognitive decline.