A Preliminary Study for the Standardization of the Korean Version of the GBS Scale

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: The Gottfries-Brane-Steen (GBS) Scale was developed to assess cognition, emotion, activities of daily living (ADL), and behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) among patient with dementia. The aim of the present study was to provide preliminary evidences for the standardization of the Korean Version of the GBS Scale. METHODS: The GBS scale was administered among caregivers of 31 patients with dementia. Reliability and validity analysis were performed, and factor structure was explored. RESULTS: The internal reliabilities using Cronbach's alpha of the four subscales of the GBS were relatively high (intellectual impairment 0.954, emotional impairment 0.860, impairment of ADL performance 0.877, some symptoms common in dementia 0.847). The cognitive and ADL subscales of the GBS significantly correlated with the Korean mini-mental state examination and Barthel ADL Index (r=-0.648, r=-0.739, p<.01, respectively), whereas the emotion and BPSD subscales did not correlated with the Korean form of geriatric depression scale and Korean version of the Neuropsychiatric inventory, respectively. Factor analysis showed that the GBS scale was comprised of three factors unlike original article which had reported four factors of the scale. CONCLUSION: Although internal reliabilities and concurrent validities were relatively high, a factor analysis raised questions concerning the construct validity of the GBS scale.