A CRITERION-RELATED VALIDITY STUDY OF THE NURSING-CARE DEPENDENCY (NCD) SCALE

The purpose of this study was to examine some aspects of the criterion -related validity of the Nursing-Care Dependency (NCD) scale. This 15- item counting scale has recently been developed for assessing the care dependency of demented or mentally handicapped in-patients. Its crite rion-related validity was investigated by studying the relationship be tween the Nursing-Care Dependency scale, the Rating Scale for Elderly Patients (RSEP), the Behavior Observation Scale for Intramural Psychog eriatrics (BOSIP) and the Scale for Social Functioning (SSF). Data wer e collected from 322 demented and 105 mentally handicapped patients us ing the mentioned instruments. High correlations were found between NC D and RSEP, and NCD and SSF. There was a low relationship between the NCD sumscore and BOSIP subscales-scores. The NCD was able to purposefu lly distinguish diagnostic groups of demented patients when an externa l criterion was used. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserv ed.