A. Dijkstra et al., A CRITERION-RELATED VALIDITY STUDY OF THE NURSING-CARE DEPENDENCY (NCD) SCALE, International journal of nursing studies, 35(3), 1998, pp. 163-170
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.