The Cornell-Brown Scale for Quality of Life in Dementia

Abstract

The objective of this study was to validate a Spanish version of the Cornell-Brown Scale (CBS) for quality of life (QoL) in dementia. One hundred persons with mild-to-moderate dementia (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, 4th edition) were recruited and interviewed at 5 Spanish centers to obtain sociodemographic information, health perceptions, depressive symptoms (Geriatric Depression Scale 15-item version), functional ability (Barthel Index), dementia severity (Mini-Mental State Examination), specific QoL (CBS), and generic QoL (World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF version). Analysis was carried out using classical psychometric methods. Internal consistency reliability for the CBS was good (0.87). A priori hypotheses about the relationship between CBS and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF version psychological domain and Geriatric Depression Scale 15-item version were confirmed, indicating good construct validity. Regarding contrasting groups' differences, CBS scores significantly differentiated between healthy and unhealthy and depressed and nondepressed participants but not between those with mild and moderate dementia. The exploratory factor analysis showed a 5-factor solution, which accounted for 63.9% of the total variance of CBS. This study is the first to report the factor structure of the CBS. These results indicate that CBS is a useful tool in assessing persons with dementia. Replication of these results with larger samples is advised. The Spanish version of the CBS is reliable and valid in persons with mild/moderate dementia who are living at home and with a known caregiver.