1Clinical Trial Center, Chonnam National University Hospital, Korea. hyshin@chonnam.ac.kr 2Department of of Preventive Medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School, Korea.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The Quality of Life-Alzheimer's Disease (QOL-AD) scale is a reliable and valid tool for assessing the quality of life (QOL) in the elderly with dementia. This study aimed to develop the Korean version of Quality of Life-Alzheimer's Disease (KQOL-AD) scale for the demented elderly living in the community. METHODS: KQOL-AD was administered to two groups: 24 demented elderly and 72 cognitively impaired elderly with no dementia (CIND) who were living in the community. Each elderly person and their caregiver rated the elderly QOL. The Korean version of mini-mental state examination (MMSE-K), the clinical dementia rating (CDR), the activities of daily living (ADL), and the neuropsychiatric inventory (NPI) were also assessed. The reliability and validity of the KQOL-AD were examined. RESULTS: In the dementia group, the internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha), the split half and the test-retest reliabilities of the KQOL-AD were excellent. Scores on the KQOL-AD were significantly correlated with the scores of the NPI, but they were not significantly correlated with scores of the MMSE-K, CDR and ADL. In addition, the CIND group showed similar results to the dementia group. CONCLUSIONS: KQOL-AD might be a reliable and valid instrument for assessing QOL in the elderly with dementia. It could be used as an important outcome measure for research on the demented elderly.
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