A Preliminary Study for the Validation of the Korean Version of Psychogeriatric Assessment Scale / 신경정신의학

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to develop the Korean version of the Psychogeriatric Assessment Scale(PAS-K), a multidimensional screening tool for the dementia and depression. METHODS: Through three times preliminary trials, the authors translated PAS into Korean. The PAS-K, Geriatric Depression Scale, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Hachinski Ischemic Scale and Mini-Mental State Examination-Korean version were administered to 291 subjects over the age of 60 and the same number of their informants(67 subjects were institutionalized, 168 subjects were in community, 58 subjects were psychiatric hospital patients). And the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS-III-R) was independently administered to exactly diagnose dementia and depression. The reliability and validity test, optimal cut-off point estimation for six each scale and ROC curve analyses were done to investigate the diagnostic validity of PAS-K. RESULTS: Internal consistency and interrater reliability of the PAS-K were high. Concurrent validity of each scales of PAS-K was good in being measured with other standardized scales. The optimal cut-off points of each scale of the PAS-K were estimated as follows: 1) Stroke Scale of subject interview: 1, 2) Cognitive Impairment Scale of subject interview: 10, 3) Depression Scale of subject interview: 5, 4) Stroke Scale of informant interview: 1, 5) Cognitive Decline Scale of informant interview: 3, and 6) Behavioral Change Scale of informant: 2. CONCLUSIONS: The PAS-K was valid and reliable screening tools for detecting dementia and depression. Therefore the PAS-K could be widely and extensively used in psychogeriatric epidemiological research or clinical setting of primary screening for dementia and depression.