Centre for Policy on Ageing



Conceptualization and measurement of quality of life in dementia — the Dementia Quality of Life Instrument (DQoL)
Author(s)	Meryl Brod, Anita L Stewart, Laura Sands
Journal title	The Gerontologist, vol 39, no 1, February 1999
Pages	pp 25-36
Keywords	Dementia ; Quality of life ; Evaluation.
Annotation	Direct assessment of quality of life (QoL) of people with dementia has largely been ignored, due to logistical, conceptual and practical issues. This article presents a disease-specific conceptual framework of QoL for dementia. A 29-item instrument designed to assess QoL by direct interview with dementia patients was developed and tested on 99 participants. The data show that the instrument is reliable, with evidence of validity. Nearly all participants were able to respond to questions appropriately. Those with mild to moderate dementia can be considered good informants of their own subjective states, thus paving the way to consider patient responses rather than proxy measures as the gold standard for assessing QoL for people with dementia. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-990331222 A
Classmark	EA: F:59: 4C
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.