Synonyms
Blessed dementia rating scale (BDRS); Blessed-Roth DS; Dementia scale (DS); Modified Blessed dementia scale (DS); Newcastle DS; Revised dementia scale (RDS)
Description
The Blessed dementia scale (DS) was developed in 1968 by Blessed and colleagues in an attempt to quantify the “degree of intellectual and personality deterioration” (p. 799) in the elderly.
This rating scale consists of 22 items that reflect (1) changes in performance of everyday activities (8 items; e.g., using money and finding one’s way), (2) changes in habits including self-care (3 items; i.e., eating, dressing and continence), and (3) changes in personality, interests, and drives (11 items; e.g., evaluation of rigidity and affect). A close friend or relative is asked to provide these behavior ratings of the examinee over the past 6 months; when unavailable, medical records can be used. The DS is scored on a 0–28-point scale, where higher numbers indicate a larger decrement in functional capacity. On...
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Keller, A.J., Sherman, E.M.S., Strauss, E. (2018). Blessed Dementia Scale. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_531
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_531
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