a School of Applied Psychology , Griffith University , Brisbane , Australia.
Aging Ment Health. 2014;18(3):296-303. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2013.827629. Epub 2013 Aug 21.
This study aimed to develop and pilot the Alzheimer's Disease and Ageing Perception Scale (ADAPS), examine theory-consistent differences and convergent validity, and identify misconceptions of the cognitive effects of ageing and mild Alzheimer's disease (AD).
After piloting a large pool of items with a panel of ageing and dementia experts (n = 6), an item analysis yielded a 25-item version of the ADAPS (α = .70), comprising a Normal Ageing subscale (α = .68) and Mild AD subscale (α = .74). Participants from the general community (n = 251) and aged care professionals (n = 59) completed the ADAPS, Knowledge of Memory Ageing Questionnaire (KMAQ), and the Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS).
Compared to matched controls, aged care professionals demonstrated greater accuracy of knowledge on the Mild AD subscale (p < .05), but not the Normal Ageing subscale (p > .05) of the ADAPS. The pattern of significant correlations between the ADAPS, KMAQ, and ADKS supported the convergent validity of the ADAPS. The most common misconceptions on the ADAPS indicated a tendency for participants to overgeneralise the cognitive effects of normal ageing.
This preliminary study introduces a new tool for assessing accuracy of knowledge of cognitive effects associated with normal ageing and mild AD, and may assist in identifying misconceptions of the ageing process.
本研究旨在开发和试行阿尔茨海默病和衰老认知量表（ADAPS），检验理论一致的差异和收敛效度，并确定对衰老和轻度阿尔茨海默病（AD）的认知影响的误解。
在对一组老龄化和痴呆症专家小组（n=6）进行了大量项目试点后，对项目进行了分析，得出了 ADAPS 的 25 项版本（α=0.70），包括正常衰老子量表（α=0.68）和轻度 AD 子量表（α=0.74）。来自普通社区的参与者（n=251）和老年护理专业人员（n=59）完成了 ADAPS、记忆老化知识问卷（KMAQ）和阿尔茨海默病知识量表（ADKS）。
与匹配的对照组相比，老年护理专业人员在轻度 AD 子量表上表现出更高的知识准确性（p<0.05），但在正常衰老子量表上则不然（p>0.05）。ADAPS、KMAQ 和 ADKS 之间显著相关的模式支持了 ADAPS 的收敛效度。ADAPS 上最常见的误解表明，参与者倾向于过度概括正常衰老的认知影响。
本初步研究介绍了一种新的工具，用于评估与正常衰老和轻度 AD 相关的认知影响的知识准确性，并可能有助于识别对衰老过程的误解。
