The Feeling-Tone Questionnaire: Reliability and Validity of a Direct Patient Assessment Screening Instrument for the Detection of Depressive Symptoms in Cases of Dementia

Authors: Toner J.A.¹; Teresi J.A.²; Gurland B.J.³; Tirumalasetti F.⁴

Source: Journal of Clinical Geropsychology, Volume 05, Number 1, January 1999 , pp. 63-78(16)

Publisher: Springer

Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and valid measure of affective disorder in elderly demented patients. The field lacks instruments which are sensitive to detecting depressive signs in severely as well as mildly and moderately demented subjects. Two samples of subjects were chosen for study. The first sample consisted of subjects from six institutions, which were chosen for study from a probability sample of 25 long-term care institutions in New York City. This sample was part of the Cross-National Institutional Study conducted in New York and London (Gurland et al., 1979; Mann et al., 1984). Thirty patients were selected at random within each institution. The second sample consisted of 52 inpatients at Willard Psychiatric Center, a traditional state psychiatric hospital in upstate New York. All subjects had a chart diagnosis of dementia and were 60 years old or older. The mean age of the sample was 82 years and 56% of the subjects were female. The Feeling-Tone Questionnaire, which was developed for these analyses, consists of 16 dichotomous items and 16 5-point Likert ratings of affect. The reliability of this scale using Cronbach's alpha is .91 for the long-term care institutional sample and .90 for the psychiatric hospital sample. Interrater reliability for two raters on ten cases is .99. Test–retest reliability on ten cases with a 1-day to 2-day interval between trials is .81. A short mood scale was developed from the observational data as a validity measure for the Feeling-Tone Questionnaire. Evidence for the validity of the Feeling-Tone Questionnaire is provided.

Keywords: geriatric assessment; affective disorder; dementia with depression

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Senior Research Scientist and Associate Professor, Stroud Center for Study of Quality of Life and the Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute, Office of Mental Health, New York, New York 2: Senior Research Scientist, Stroud Center for Study of Quality of Life and the Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute, Office of Mental Health, and Hebrew Home for the Aged in Riverdale, 3: Director, Stroud Center for Study of Quality of Life and the Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology and Sidney Katz Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University Faculty of Medicine and New York State Office of Mental Health, New York, New York 4: Clinical Physician, Willard Psychiatric Center, Willard, New York

Publication date: 1999-01-01

• In this: publication
• By this: publisher
• In this Subject: Neurology & Psychiatry ,  Psychology
• By this author: Toner J.A. ;  Teresi J.A. ;  Gurland B.J. ;  Tirumalasetti F.

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