Abstract |
Background: Dementia and especially Alzheimer’s disease is a significant public health
problem worldwide and one of the most common diseases in primary care. Validated
questionnaires measuring General Practitioner’s skills on the diagnosis and management of
dementia have a significant role in revealing the difficulties that GP’s face in every day
clinical practice. The Alzheimer’s Disease Knowledge Scale is a valid and reliable tool,
capable of assessing knowledge about Alzheimer’s disease among health professionals. The
purpose of this study was the translation and validation of the ADKS in a selected number of
Greek general practitioners working in primary care in Crete.
Methods: The translation and validation of the questionnaire was performed according to
international standards (MAPI Research Institute, 2002 και Medical Outcomes Trust Bulletin,
1997). The translation process comprised forward translation, reconciliation report and
cognitive debriefing process, that concerned pre-testing steps of the translated questionnaire
in a small number of general practitioners. The validation procedure concerned the
exploration of internal consistency by measuring Cronbach a, construct validity through
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Γενική Ιατρική & Πρωτοβάθμια Φροντίδα Υγείας
-Τμήμα Ιατρικής – Πανε̟ιστήμιο Κρήτης
Exploratory Factor Analysis, repeatability or test- retest reliability by measuring Intraclass
Correlation Coefficient and responsiveness through Spearman Correlation
Coefficient..Quality of data was assessed through number of unanswered questions which
should not be over 10% of the total questions. Exploratory Factor Analysis revealed that the
questionnaire should be used as a unity, result that agrees with the original version of the
ADKS.
Results: The translation process of the ADKS resulted in the Greek version of the
questionnaire. The cultural adaptation took place through cognitive debriefing process. The
Greek translation of the ADKS found to be reliable, with good internal consistency (Cronbach
a=0,647). 27 respondents (27/112 ~ 24% of total sample) repeated the completion of the
ADKS in order to assess the test retest reliability. The test-retest reliability of the Greek
version of the ADK Scale is excellent. The “correlation between forms” was estimated at 1.0.
The mean score for both completions was 22.3 (St.D. 2.45). The Spearman-Brown correlation
coefficient was found to be 1.0. We examined the predictive validity by calculating the
correlation between performance on the ADKS and ratings of self-reported knowledge about
AD. The correlation was 0.281, p<0.05. Respondents do have some awareness of how much
they know about AD. Scores on the ADKS should be different across groups with
theoretically different levels of knowledge about AD. We examined concurrent validity by
comparing ADKS scores across groups of respondents who likely had different degrees of
knowledge about AD. Factor analysis showed a structure that agrees with the original version
of the questionnaire.
Conclusions: The Greek translation of the ADKS found to be reliable with a good internal
consistency and repeatability, which means that the questionnaire is comparable with that of
the original version and can be used in PHC research.
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