Assessment by Relatives of Elderly Patients with Psychiatric Illness

Abstract

Participation of relatives to provide clinical information on psychiatric patients is frequently under-utilized resulting in valuable data being bypassed. In an attempt to formalise the gathering of data from relatives we used the Geriatric Evaluation by Relatives Rating Instrument (GERRI), a 49-statement questionnaire in which the relative rates the patient's behaviour in terms of frequency of occurrence, The information obtained from relatives was then compared with that obtained from other forms of patient-assessment—the London Psychogeriatric Rating Scale completed by nursing staff, the Minimental State Screening Test and the Visual Analogue Scale for Depression completed by the patient, and the Activities of Daily Living Instrument completed by the occupational therapist. These instruments were chosen as being valid and reliable procedures with which to compare the GERRI. Subjects were 100 patients aged 65 yr. and over who were admitted consecutively to a psychogeriatric unit in a large psychiatric hospital. Significant correlations between relatives' assessment of cognitive and social function and those completed by the patients and other staff were noted. The relatives' assessment of the patients' mood, however, did not correlate with the patients' self-assessment of mood, suggesting that depression in the elderly may be “masked.”

A trial of buspirone for the control of disruptive behaviors in community‐dwelling patients with dementia

“…Subjects and caregivers who provided the information used for assessment were blind to treatment. Acceptable reliability and validity scores have been reported previously for all of the outcome measures used in this study (Schwartz, 1983;Lingjaerde et al, 1987;Sclan, 1991;Rozenbilds et al, 1986). Because the BEHAVE-AD was our primary outcome measure, we established interrater reliability for this scale.…”

Validity of the Elderly Behavior Assessment for Relatives (EBAR)

“…Schwartz (1983) made a content analysis of the GERRI items in order to provide evidence for the validity of his instrument. He identified three broad clusters and called them Cognitive (C) and Social (S) functioning and Mood (M), respectively including 21, 18, and 10 items (Schwartz & Loew, 1983; Schwartz, 1985; Rozenbilds, Goldney, Gilchrist, & Connelly, 1986).…”

On the Clinical Value of the London Psychogeriatric Rating Scale

“…It has been 13 years since the initial report on the clinical value of the London Psychogeriatric Rating Scale was published in this Journal 1 . Since the initial report there have been several studies supporting the reliability and validity of the scale 2 , 3 , 4 . Kane and Kane, 5 in their extensive review of instruments for assessing the elderly, favorably describe the LPRS as a brief, systematically developed scale having practical applicability for assessing non‐testable and testable patients.…”