Development of mental health scale assessed by proxy

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24593553
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Community health/Gerontological nurisng
• Research Institution: Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital and Institute of Gerontology
• Principal Investigator: INAGAKI Hiroki 地方独立行政法人東京都健康長寿医療センター(東京都健康長寿医療センター研究所), 東京都健康長寿医療センター研究所, 研究員 (00311407)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): AWATA Shuichi 地方独立行政法人東京都健康長寿医療センター(東京都健康長寿医療センター研究所), 東京都健康長寿医療センター研究所, 研究部長 (90232082) ; MASUI Yukie 地方独立行政法人東京都健康長寿医療センター(東京都健康長寿医療センター研究所), 東京都健康長寿医療センター研究所, 研究員 (10415507) ; GONDO Yasuyuki 大阪大学, 人間科学研究科, 准教授 (40250196)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 高齢者 / 精神的健康 / 他者評価 / 尺度開発

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Recently, there has been a growing interest in mental health of the elderly. In the viewpoint of a primary prevention, the measurement that is simple and can be assessed by proxies is required and highly convenient. In this study, we aimed a development of “mental health scale assessed by proxy”. We selected items referring to previous study of mental health. We collected data from both normal or dementia elderly and their family. They answered the corresponding items with same meaning. Total score was correlated significantly, but correlation was low. However, in normal elderly only, correlation was significant and moderate. On the other, correlation was no significant in elderly with dementia. The divergence between self- and proxy-evaluation was not very small in the dementia elderly, and so it was difficult to measure reasonably using the items selected in this study. It is necessary to re-select and re-construct the valid items for elderly with cognitive decline.

Free Research Field

老年心理学