Development of Chinese Social Functioning in Dementia Scale (SF-DEM) assessment to patients with dementia

• Main Authors: CHO,YEN-YEN, 卓燕燕
• Other Authors: CHANG,BIN-WHA
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2019
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/g73fqr

碩士 === 弘光科技大學 === 健康事業管理研究所 === 107 === Introduction: Currently, there are not many Chinese versions of social function evaluation scales for dementia patients in Taiwan. In particular, there is a lack of reliability and validity studies on Chinese versions of social function evaluation scales for dementia patients. Aim: The aim of this study is to translate foreign social function scales for dementia patients into Chinese and develop a set of social function assessment scale that is suitable for Taiwanese dementia patients, and validate the translated scale’s reliability and validity in order to quantitate the social activities and interpersonal relationship behaviors of dementia patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was employed, and data was collected on patients who were diagnosed with mild dementia by specialty physicians from a psychiatry clinic in central Taiwan from May 2018 to March 2019. Approximately 153 patients (60 years old and above) and their caregivers were recruited as study subjects. In order to overcome inter-cultural differences and retain the integral effectiveness, the semantics of the Chinese questionnaires were slightly modified to suit Taiwan’s culture. SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 25.0 software were used as tools to execute descriptive statistics, item analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, independent sample t-test, and internal consistency, to validate the reliability and validity of the social function questionnaires. Results: The patients’ validity Cronbach's α for the entire social function scale was 0.688 and caregivers’ validity Cronbach's α was 0.737, showing good internal consistency. The reliability of the patients’ end and caregivers’ end were r = .600, p= .001 and r = .641, p = .001, respectively. Pearson’s correlation test showed that there is significant correlation between pre-testing and secondary testing, representing that there are no differences in this questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis was used for expert validity to test the goodness of fit for the hypothetical testing models in the scale. The results of confirmatory factor analysis show that the two scales are for, respectively, social activities and interpersonal relationships, which conforms to the hypothesis testing models. At the time, the various goodness of fit markers showed that the test model of the revised scale has a certain degree of validity. A small sample was used for official implementation of the scale and follow-up was carried out until Month 4 of treatment. In dependent sample t-test, the t of the patients’ end = -2.569, p = .012, showing that significant differences started to occur in the patients’ social function. Conclusion: Our study showed that family and surrounding environmental factors will cause patients to decrease interpersonal interactions. We found that patients who frequently participated in social activities were more cheerful, and this was able to delay the risk of dementia and depression.