1. A new portable communication test (Mini-communication test) for dementia
- Author
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Ayako, Machida, Sachi, Baba, Aya, Hirata, Akiko, Nagasawa, Setsu, Iijima, Mitsuko, Hara, Yasukado, Fukushima, Noriko, Sudo, Masahiro, Akishita, Fumio, Eto, and Kenji, Toba
- Subjects
Aged, 80 and over ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Activities of daily living ,business.industry ,Barthel index ,Communication ,Coefficient of variation ,Geriatric assessment ,medicine.disease ,University hospital ,Cronbach's alpha ,Internal medicine ,Activities of Daily Living ,medicine ,Physical therapy ,Humans ,Dementia ,Vitality index ,Geriatrics and Gerontology ,Mental Status Schedule ,business ,Geriatric Assessment ,Aged - Abstract
To evaluate verbal communication ability in the elderly, we developed a new portable "mini-communication test (MCT)" with 13 sub-scales, which was constructively validated based on 45 items from other reported scales. Clinical reliability and validity were tested in 354 inpatients in a long-term care hospital (81.9 +/- 8.3 years old) and 124 inpatients (80.39 +/- 8.1 years old) and 34 outpatients (76.5 +/- 7.0 years old) in Kyorin University Hospital. All patients were evaluated in approximately 7 minutes each. The test-retest correlation coefficient was 0.99. Inter-rater coefficient of variation was 0.107. The Cronbach alpha value of the test was 0.93. MCT positively correlated with the Barthel Index (r = 0.65, p < 0.01). Hasegawa Dementia Scale Revised version (r = 0.93, p < 0.001) and Vitality Index (r = 0.66, p < 0.01). MCT could be a new tool to assess communication ability in elderly patients with or without dementia.
- Published
- 2003