Validation of the assessment scale of psychosocial impact of the diagnosis of dementia in portuguese patients with Alzheimer’s disease

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee for Health (CES) of the Centro Hospitalar São João (CHSJ-EPE 70613).
Awareness of disease plays a pivotal role in healthcare outcomes being associated with treatment adherence and quality of life (QoL). This study aimed to validate the Assessment Scale of Psychosocial Impact of the Diagnosis of Dementia (ASPIDD), a measure to assess patients’ awareness of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). A total of 128 Portuguese patients with mild AD completed the ASPIDD and were assessed on psychological morbidity, medical adherence, satisfaction with social support, and QoL. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted and showed a unifactorial structure with ten items, explaining 35.54% of the variance. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the one-factor structure’s adequacy, ensuring reliability and validity. Reliability analysis yielded a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.79, indicating good internal consistency. The Portuguese version of ASPIDD is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing awareness of disease in Portuguese patients. Future research should validate the instrument in patients with other types of dementia.
This study was conducted at the Research Centre in Psychology (PSI/01662), School of Psychology, University of Minho, supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the Portuguese State Budget (Ref.: UIDB/PSI/01662/2020).