Assessment Scales for Advanced Dementia

“At a time when there is considerable interest in the palliative care needs of people with advanced dementia, this ‘tour de force’ on the development/psycho-metric testing of 11 tools (all included) will be invaluable to both researchers and practitioners wanting to develop better care.”—Jo Hockley, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow, University of EdinburghAdvancing knowledge about dementia and helping to improve the care and services that are increasingly needed for the growing numbers of people with dementia-type diseases, this book brings together the best evidence-based measurement scales available for researchers and care providers.With proven reliability and validity, the 11 scales presented in this book are effective in eliciting meaningful data from study subjects, patients, and long-term care residents in the following domains: dementia severity, satisfaction with care, symptom management, comfort during dying, quality of life, activity involvement, discomfort, pain, quality of visits, agitation, and rejection of care.Analysis of each scale includes:• a detailed explanation of the concept being measured• the original published research article outlining the development and testing of the scale• a summary of how the scale has been used by others• suggestions on how to use the scale for new research• a user-friendly measurement form with complete instructions for use (also available as downloadable PDFs)These carefully selected scales will serve physicians, nurses, psychologists, and other professionals who are planning studies ranging from large-scale randomized clinical trials to the evaluation of unit-based quality improvement programs. This is a unique and indispensable collection for any researcher or practitioner in the dementia care field.