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The Behavior Problems Checklist-Spanish: A Preliminary Study of a New Scale for the Assessment of Depressive Symptoms and Disruptive Behaviors in Hispanic Patients With Dementia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2005

Dylan G. Harwood
Affiliation:
Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA Wien Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders, Mount Sinai Medical Center and the University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA
Warren W. Barker
Affiliation:
Wien Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders, Mount Sinai Medical Center and the University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA
Raymond L. Ownby
Affiliation:
Wien Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders, Mount Sinai Medical Center and the University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA
Marina Bravo
Affiliation:
Wien Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders, Mount Sinai Medical Center and the University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA
Hilda Aguero
Affiliation:
Wien Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders, Mount Sinai Medical Center and the University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA
Ranjan Duara
Affiliation:
Wien Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders, Mount Sinai Medical Center and the University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA Departments of Medicine and Neurology, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA

Abstract

Few instruments are available with which to measure behavioral and psychological signs and symptoms in Hispanic patients with dementia. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to develop and evaluate a 17-item scale adapted from the Revised Memory and Behavior Problems Checklist. This measure, the Behavior Problems Checklist-Spanish (BPC-S), assesses caregiver-reported symptoms of depression and disruption in patients with dementia. The sample for this study comprised 27 Spanish-speaking Hispanic patients and their family caregivers evaluated at a university-affiliated memory disorders center. All patients met diagnostic criteria for possible or probable Alzheimer's disease as set forth by the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Diseases and Stroke--Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association. Satisfactory convergent validity, discriminant validity, and internal consistency reliability were demonstrated for the Depression and Disruption subscales of the BPC-S. Both of these neuropsychiatric distrubances were related to heightened levels of caregiver burden. The results of this preliminary study suggest the BPC-S is a brief, psychometrically sound caregiver-report instrument to assess symptoms of mood disturbance and behavioral disruption in Hispanic patients with dementia. This instrument may have utility for both clinical and research purposes.

Type
Articles
Copyright
© 2001 International Psychogeriatric Association

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