Development of an instrument to assess social functioning in dementia: The Social Functioning in Dementia scale (SF-DEM).

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Social functioning is a core domain in the life of people with dementia, but there is no accepted instrument to measure it. We aimed to develop the Social Functioning in Dementia (SF-DEM) scale and test its psychometric properties for assessing social function in people with dementia.

Methods

We interviewed people with mild dementia and family caregivers to develop patient and caregiver-rated SF-DEM versions and refined them through interviews with health care professionals. We tested its psychometric properties in 30 dyads of people with dementia and family caregivers.

Results

Both SF-DEM versions had content validity and demonstrated concurrent validity against a single item rating overall social functioning (patient rated r = 0.42, 95% CI [0.07-

SUBMITTER: Sommerlad A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5344217 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature