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Examining the Utility of the Saskatchewan Mood Inventory for Individuals with Memory Loss

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2010

Catherine Burton  and
Margaret Crossley
Catherine Burton
Affiliation:
University of Victoria
Margaret Crossley*
Affiliation:
University of Saskatchewan
*
Requests for offprints should be sent to: / Les demandes de tirés-à-part doivent être adressées à : Margaret Crossley, Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan, 9 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A5. (crossley@sask.usask.ca)
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Abstract

The Saskatchewan Mood Inventory (SMI) is a caregiver-focused assessment and research tool that was designed to enhance understanding of the emotional experiences of individuals with dementia and to identify relationships between level of cognitive impairment and family member ratings of pleasant and unpleasant emotional responses during daily activities. Family members were instructed to use the semi-structured written log to document prospectively the type and intensity of emotion expressed by the individual with dementia, to describe the associated emotion-evoking events or activities, and to monitor and record their own emotional reactions. Twenty-seven family caregivers recruited from Alzheimer support groups used the log consistently during a 2-week monitoring period to document an average of three emotion-evoking events per day. Average emotion ratings were more positive for individuals with moderate levels of dementia than for those with severe cognitive impairment, and caregivers' ratings of their family members' and their own emotional states were positively correlated. The event-reporting procedures produced narrative descriptions of emotion-evoking activities that were subsequently coded for content. Inter-rater reliability estimates were high. Event-category summaries are reported in association with positive, negative, and neutral emotional responses for individuals with moderate and severe levels of dementia. Level of impairment was related both to the relative frequency of positive and negative emotions and to the type of event category reported by caregivers.

Résumé

L'inventaire des humeurs de la Saskatchewan (Saskatchewan Mood Inventory – SMI) est une évaluation ciblant les soignants et est un outil de recherche conçu pour mettre en évidence les connaissances des expériences émotives de personnes souffrant de démence. De plus, l'inventaire identifie les relations entre les niveaux de déficience cognitive et les notations des réponses émotives agréables et désagréables des membres de la famille pendant des activités quotidiennes. Les membres de la famille sont chargés de tenir un registre écrit semi-structuré afin de documenter le genre et l'intensité des émotions exprimées par la personne souffrant de démence, de décrire les évènements ou activités provoquant des émotions affectives et de surveiller et enregistrer leurs réactions émotives personnelles. Vingt-sept soignants familiaux provenant de groupes de soutien Alzheimer utilisaient régulièrement les registres pendant une période d'essai de deux semaines ; ils devaient documenter en moyenne, trois évènements par jour. En comparaison aux personnes souffrant d'une déficience cognitive majeure, en moyenne les notations émotives étaient davantage positives pour les personnes ayant un niveau modéré de démence. Les notations face à leurs proches et face à leurs propres conditions émotives ont été intégrées positivement. La déclaration des évènements a produit des descriptions techniques d'activités provoquant des émotions ; ces dernières ont postérieurement été codées pour leur contenu. Les estimations de la fidélité inter juges étaient considérables. Les résumés des catégories d'évènements sont présentés en relation aux réponses émotives positives, négatives et neutres pour les personnes souffrant de niveaux modérés et élevés de démence. Le niveau de déficience est lié et à la fréquence relative d'émotions positives et négatives et au genre de catégorie d'événement dont ont déclaré les soignants.

Keywords

agingemotionsdementiafamily caregiversinformant ratingsvieillissementémotionsdémencesoignants familialsévaluation des répondants
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , Fall/Automne 2003 , pp. 297 - 310
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2003

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Footnotes

*The authors would like to express their gratitude to those individuals and their family members who volunteered to participate in this study. We were moved by their descriptions of the daily challenges inherent in coping with the effects of Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias. As well, the authors are indebted to the Alzheimer Society of Saskatchewan and to the many support-group facilitators throughout the province who supported our work with their members.

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