Introduction:The Attitude to Ageing Questionnaire (AAQ) was developed to assess perceptions of the aging process among older adults. The 24 items were framed into three factors. This study aimed to translate the AAQ from English to the Malay language (AAQ-M) and determine its factorial structure and validity in a Malaysian population. Methodology: The original AAQ underwent a standard translation process, as well as content and face validation, to produce the AAQ-M. The construct validity of the AAQ-M was then assessed in 254 older adults aged 60 years and above attending a public primary care clinic in Seremban, Malaysia. Results:Exploratory factor analysis showed a three-factor model for the AAQ-M with acceptable reliability and Cronbach α values ranging from 0.71 to 0.82 for each factor. A total of five items were omitted for poor factor loadings (<0.32) or because they did not conceptually fit into the factor they were loaded onto. Of the final 19 AAQ-M items, seven were physical change factors, eight were psychosocial loss factors, and four were psychological growth factors. This threefactor model explained 37.9% of the total variance. Conclusion: The AAQ-M version confirmed that the three-factor model, namely physical change, psychosocial loss, and psychological growth, was similar to that of the original AAQ. The AAQ-M is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing the three aspects of attitudes toward aging in the Malaysian older adult population.

A retrospective case-note study of 131 patients with depressive disorder over the age of 65 years discharged over a 3-year period from acute in-patient care in two neighbouring but organizationally distinct old age psychiatry services was made to determine the factors affecting subsequent readmission to hospital and mortality. Dem ographic data, clinical aspects and initial management of patients were similar at discharge with the exception of fam ily history of depression and a measure of social deprivation. Patients from the traditionally organized service (A) had greater lengths of stay in hospital, were m ore likely to be discharged to institutional care and died earlier than patients from the comm unity-focussed service (B). There was a trend for patients from service A to be readmitted sooner than those from service B. Differences in follow-up arrangements re¯ected the differen t models of service organisation employed. Despite the limitations of a retrospective study it is suggested that the results provide the grounds for further prospective examination of the effects of service organization on outcome in depression.

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