Wicking Dementia Research and Education Center, University of Tasmania, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
Geriatr Gerontol Int. 2017 Oct;17(10):1746-1751. doi: 10.1111/ggi.12911. Epub 2016 Sep 29.
Dementia prevalence is accelerating internationally commensurate with population aging. Super-aging countries, including Japan, will experience growing prevalence of this life-limiting condition in the coming decades as a result of falling fertility and mortality. The authors developed and verified a Japanese translation of the Dementia Knowledge Assessment Scale (DKAS-J) to address the paucity of reliable and valid Japanese-language measures, and to elucidate current understanding.
The present study was designed as exploratory research across five universities in Japan. The Dementia Knowledge Assessment Scale was translated into Japanese by a native speaker and bilingual physician with back-translation carried out to ensure consistency of meaning. Between January and April 2016, the DKAS-J was administered to 185 health students, academics and health professionals from the disciplines of nursing, medicine and allied health in the regions of Kyushu, Kansai and Tohoku.
The DKAS-J showed face and content validity, acceptable internal consistency (α = 0.79) and adequate sensitivity (discrimination between health professionals and health students). A principal components analysis confirmed that an 18-item iteration of the DKAS-J performed optimally as a unidimensional scale. The results of DKAS-J administration showed low levels of dementia knowledge among participants, with particularly poor understanding related to the clinical course of the syndrome, symptomatology and the efficacy of pharmaceutical intervention for behavioral symptoms.
The DKAS-J provides a useful tool for conceptualizing baseline knowledge, changes in understanding and knowledge deficits. Such a measure will prove valuable for the design and development of educational interventions as dementia increases in Japan and worldwide. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2017; 17: 1746-1751.
随着人口老龄化，痴呆症的患病率在国际上呈加速趋势。超级老龄化国家，包括日本，由于生育率和死亡率下降，在未来几十年，这种限制生命的疾病的患病率将会增长。作者开发并验证了痴呆症知识评估量表（DKAS-J）的日语翻译版，以解决缺乏可靠和有效的日语测量工具的问题，并阐明目前的认识。
本研究是在日本的五所大学进行的探索性研究。一位母语为日语的双语医生对痴呆症知识评估量表进行了翻译，并进行了回译以确保意义一致。2016 年 1 月至 4 月期间，DKAS-J 被用于九州、关西和东北地区的护理、医学和相关健康专业的 185 名卫生专业学生、学者和卫生专业人员。
DKAS-J 具有表面效度和内容效度，内部一致性（α=0.79）可接受，敏感性足够（区分卫生专业人员和卫生学生）。主成分分析证实，DKAS-J 的 18 项迭代作为一个单一维度量表表现最佳。DKAS-J 管理的结果表明，参与者的痴呆症知识水平较低，特别是对该综合征的临床过程、症状学以及药物干预行为症状的疗效的理解较差。
DKAS-J 为概念化基线知识、理解变化和知识缺陷提供了有用的工具。随着痴呆症在日本和全球的增加，这样的测量工具将为教育干预的设计和发展提供有价值的参考。老年医学与老年病学国际 2017；17：1746-1751。
