Masaki Kamiya, OT, MS, Izumi Kondo, MD, PhD, Aiko Osawa, MD, PhD
Jpn J Compr Rehabil Sci 8: 109-114, 2017
Objective: Recreational therapy is often provided for
patients with dementia, but there are few indices on
the reactions of patients during therapy, making
evaluation difficult. The objective of this study was to
create a new observational index capable of evaluating
the reactions of elderly people with dementia, and to
demonstrate its utility.
Methods: The observational index developed by
Ishihara et al. was modified, and its interobserver
reliability was examined by two assessors who
evaluated 16 patients (mean age: 80.2 ± 7.2 years,
mean Mini Mental State Examination [MMSE] score:
18.3 ± 7.9) hospitalized on dementia and geriatric
wards to calculate the kappa coefficients. Criterionrelated
validity was examined by evaluating 33
patients meeting the same conditions (mean age: 80.8
± 8.4 years, mean MMSE score: 15.6 ± 6.8) using this
index and the Observed Emotion Rating Scale to
calculate Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.
Results: The examination of interobserver reliability
produced kappa coefficients of 0.57 to 0.67, while the
examination of criterion-related validity produced
correlation coefficients of 0.56 to 0.86 (p < 0.001).
Conclusion: The interobserver reliability and criterionrelated
validity of the index examined in this study were
of a sufficient level for this index to be used in clinical
settings to evaluate dementia patients.
Key words: dementia, observational evaluation, recreation, reliability, validity