Date of Award

1998

Degree Name

Psychology

College

College of Liberal Arts

Type of Degree

M.A.

Document Type

Thesis

First Advisor

Delbert Lawhon

Second Advisor

Roger Mooney

Third Advisor

James Ranson

Fourth Advisor

Stephen O’Keefe

Abstract

The Dementia Rating Scale (DRS) is a brief, comprehensive screening instrument for neurological impairment. The DRS has a low floor and enables progressive levels of dementia to be measured. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the concurrent validity of the DRS. Eighteen subjects from nursing homes and personal care homes diagnosed with mild to moderate Dementia of the Alzheimer’s Type were involved in the research. The score on the DRS was correlated with the raw scores on the Block Design and Vocabulary subtests of the WAIS-III. Research indicates that the performance on the Block Design subtest is a sensitive indicator of cognitive decline. On the other hand, the performance on the Vocabulary subtest is resistant to cognitive decline and provides a stable measure of ability. The Block Design subtest score moderately correlated with the DRS score (r = .56) which lends support for the concurrent validity of the DRS. The Vocabulary subtest score, however, also moderately correlated with the DRS score (r = .55). The Vocabulary subtest score may not be stable over the course of Dementia of the Alzheimer’s type. Factors within the population that may have affected the outcome are discussed. Recommendations for future research are presented.

Subject(s)

Dementia – Diagnosis.

Diagnosis, Noninvasive.

DRS-2:IR (Electronic resource) – Validity.

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