The purpose of this project was to develop a reliable and valid battery for the assessment of spatial orientation skills (SOS) in persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The battery, comprised of 13 subtests, was administered to 97 normal control subjects, 25 subjects with early AD and 10 with late AD. The test-retest reliability of the battery was based on the test results of 33 normal control subjects and 25 early AD subjects. Inter-rater reliability was determined using four trained raters who evaluated 27 normal control subjects and the same 25 early AD subjects. Content validity was established using a panel of six experts and construct validity was determined by comparing the performance of the normal control and early AD groups. To establish criterion validity, the Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) was used as the criterion. For the AD group, eight subtests demonstrated acceptable test-retest and inter-rater reliability coefficients (ICC $ ge$.70). For the control group, three subtests had acceptable test-retest coefficients and four had acceptable inter-rater coefficients. The internal consistency of the battery was acceptable as shown by overall Cronbach's alpha of.86 for AD subjects and.72 for control subjects, and was further analyzed using factor analysis which yielded five factors. Logistic regression provided evidence for good construct validity. Scores on the SOS subtests were able to differentiate the three groups of subjects established on the basis of the GDS scores (GDS 1 and 2, GDS 3 and 4, and GDS 5). A preliminary shortened version of the battery was developed using six subtests which demonstrated high test-retest and inter-rater reliability. The performance of subjects with AD on the battery is discussed with respect to its implications for the theoretical basis and clinical assessment of spatial orientation in AD.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.41176 |
| Date | January 1993 |
| Creators | Liu, Lili, 1962- |
| Contributors | Gauthier, Louise (advisor), Jones, Lynette (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (School of Physical and Occupational Therapy.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001327500, proquestno: NN87954, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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