Biopsychosocial assessment tools for the elderly – Assessment summary sheet

Test: Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD)

Year: 1988

Assessment Tool Category: Mental Health

Test Category (Bio, Psycho or Social): Psychological

Variations/translations: Japanese, Dutch

Setting: Any setting of elderly persons.

Method of delivery: Interviewer asks questions of patient and family, requires verbal responses.

Description: This scale was developed specifically to assess for signs and symptoms of major depression in patients with dementia. Some patients with dementia are unable to provide reliable reports, thus the CSDD uses information from the patient and a caregiver / informant. The focus is on depressive signs and symptoms occurring during the week prior the interview. The informant should be interviewed first, followed by the patient.

Scoring/interpretation: Items are rated for severity on a scale of 0 – 2 (0 = absent, 1 = mild or intermittent, 2 = severe). The scores are added together. A score below 6 is associated with absence of depressive symptoms, scores above 10 indicate probable major depression, above 13 definite major depression.

Time to administer: Approximately 20 minutes.

Availability: Widely available on the internet.

Software: N/A

Website:
http://scalesandmeasures.net/files/files/The%20Cornell%20Scale%20for%20 Depression%20in%20Dementia.pdf

Qualitative/Quantitative: Quantitative

Validity: Internal consistency = 0.84. Predictive validity - sensitivity 0.90, specificity 0.75.

Reliability: Inter-rater reliability = 0.67.

References:

Alexopoulos, G.A., Abrams, R.C., Young, R.C., & Shamoian, C.A. (1988). Cornell scale for depression in dementia. Biological Psychiatry, 23, 271-284.

Alexopoulos, G.S., Abrams, R.C., Young, R.C., & Shamoian, C.A. (1988). Use of the Cornell scale in non-demented patients. Journal of the American Geriatric Society, 36, 230-236.

Kurlowicz, L.H., Evans, L.K., Strumpf, N.E., & Maislin, G. (2002). A psychometric evaluation of the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia in a frail, nursing home population. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 10(5), 600-608.

Schreiner, A.S. & Morimoto, T. (2002). Factor structure of the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia among Japanese post-stroke patients. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 17(8), 715-722.

Vida, S., Des Rosiers, P., Carrier, L., & Gauthier, S. (1994). Depression in Alzheimer’s disease: receiver operating characteristic analysis of the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia and the Hamilton Depression Scale. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, 7, 159-162.