NINDS CDE Huntington's Disease Behavioral Psychology Subgroup ...

Description of Apathy Scale forHD Common Data ElementsInstrument Name:Classification:Short Description ofInstrument:ScoringMeasurementsPsychometricPropertiesApathy ScaleCoreSummary/ Overview of Instrument: The Apathy Scale is an abridged version ofthe Apathy Evaluation Scale (Marin, 1990). The AS consists of 14 items regardingdifferent dimensions of apathetic behavior. The score for each item ranges from 0to 3. Rating of each item is based on a semi-structured interview: each questionshould be read by the examiner, and the patient is provided with the four possibleanswers.Construct measured: ApathyGeneric vs. disease specific: GenericIntended use of instrument/ purpose of tool: Assessment of severityMeans of administration: Paper and PencilLocation of administration: Clinic or at homeIntended respondent: Patient/self and informant# of items: 14# of subscales and names of sub-scales: NoneScoring: Ratings should be based on both verbal and non-verbal information ofthe past 4 weeks (sometime 2 weeks!). For each item ratings should be judged: 4possible responses for each question: ‘not at all’, ‘slightly’, ‘somewhat’, ‘a lot’.With a c utoff score of 14 points a s ensitivity 66% and s pecificity of 100% hasbeen reported in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.Standardization of scores to a reference population (z scores, T scores, etc):Not availableIf scores have been standardized to a reference population, indicate frameof reference for scoring (general population, HD subjects, other disease groups,etc). Not availableType of scale used to describe individual items and total/subscale scores:ContinuousReliability:Test-retest or intra-interview (within rater) reliability: The AS showed testretestreliability (r = 0.90, df = 10, p < 0.01) (Starkstein, 1992)Inter-interview (between-rater) reliability: The AS showed good interraterreliability (r = 0.81, df = 10, p < 0.01) (Starkstein, 1992). Inter-interview (betweenrater)reliability (as applicable): Interrater agreement for the presence of apathyabove a m edian score in a H D population ranged from poor for the mostcognitively impaired subjects to good for the less cognitively impaired subjectsHD Version 1.0 Page 1 of 2