Cross-cultural adaptation of the quality of life assessment scale on Alzheimer disease

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To present the internal validation of the quality of life (QOL) evaluation scale for patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and their caregivers/family members, proposed by Logsdon et al. METHOD: The scale was adapted through translation, back translation and equivalence evaluation. The Portuguese version was administered to a sample of 40 patients with mild to moderate AD according to NINCDS ADRDA and DSM-III-R criteria, and also to their respective caregivers/family members. RESULTS: The reliability of the instrument was excellent, both in the intra and the inter-examiner test-retest. The correlation coefficients for the intra-examiner assessment were 0.87/0.95/0.95 (p<0.001)) for the patient, family and caregiver versions, respectively. The correlation coefficients for the inter-examiner assessment were 0.76/0.96/0.93 (p<0.001) for the patients, family and caregiver versions, respectively. The reliability was excellent for both the patient and the relatives' versions in relation to the patient's QOL (alpha=0.81 and 0.85, respectively), and also in relation to the caregiver's QOL (alpha=0.84). CONCLUSION: The adapted version of the instrument proved to be straightforward and brief, presenting excellent stability and reliability. The Portuguese version can be obtained by contacting the first author.

Cross-cultural adaptation of the Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale (TWSTRS) to Brazilian Portuguese

“…Several authors state that the judge committee should be multidisciplinary 16,[22][23][24] , and for this reason we decided to include a Portuguese linguist. Although she was not an expert in CD, she was told the objectives of the study and she had experience in translations.…”

“…The cross-cultural process of a clinical scale must go beyond mere translation and cultural and linguist adaptation, taking also into account educational issues of the target population, should be taken into consideration 24 . This is of utmost importance, especially in a country like ours where there is a complex diversity of cultural and educational background among regions and within the same region, because it allows a measuring tool to evaluate a condition or a set of symptoms just as efficiently and reliably as the original scale 14 .…”

Positive effects of a cognitive-behavioral intervention program for family caregivers of demented elderly

“…QoL was assessed using the QoL scale for patients with Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers (QoL-AD, family answered questionnaire only) 18,19 . Caregivers were also assessed regarding their own perception of QoL and answered the section of the QoL-AD related to the QoL of caregivers.…”

Effects of galantamine and galantamine combined with nimodipine on cognitive speed and quality of life in mixed dementia: a 24-week, randomized, placebo-controlled exploratory trial (the REMIX study)

“…Primary efficacy measures were performed using a computerized neuropsychological battery (CNTB) 15,16 and the scores on a QoL measure (the QOL Scale in Alzheimer's Disease, QoL-AD) 17,18 at the end of the 24 th week of treatment. The CNTB included tasks assessing attention and memory (simple and double-choice reaction tasks, face recognition and word-list learning tasks) assessed as reaction times expressed in milliseconds.…”