International journal of geriatric psychiatry
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Int J Geriatr Psychiatry · Oct 1997
The Caregiver Activity Survey (CAS): development and validation of a new measure for caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease.
Most instruments that measure the impairments associated with Alzheimer's disease assess symptom severity. Little attention has been paid to the illness's impact on the time formal and informal caregivers spend caring for Alzheimer's individuals. A tool that measures the time spent caregiving would help to determine the economic impact of the illness. The Caregiver Activity Survey (CAS) was developed to measure the time caregivers spend aiding Alzheimer's patients with their day-to-day activities. ⋯ The CAS provides a new tool that measures time spent caring for Alzheimer's individuals. The instrument may be used to augment existing clinical assessments that measure the efficacy of potentially therapeutic agents for persons with Alzheimer's disease.
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Int J Geriatr Psychiatry · Oct 1997
Cognitive impairment and social distress as different pathways to depression in the elderly: a cross-sectional study.
This study investigates the recent suggestion that some putative aetiological factors for depression, such as cerebral deterioration and social distress, may act differentially in the aetiology of depression in old age. ⋯ The results of this theory-driven analysis lend some support to the notion of at least two differential pathways to depression in the elderly, one via social distress factors and another mediated by cerebral deterioration clinically expressed as cognitive impairment.