Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, Vol 53, Issue 6 P364-P369, Copyright © 1998 by The Gerontological Society of America
Statistical and clinical evaluation of the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale- Spanish adaptation: an initial investigation
BR Arnold, I Cuellar and N Guzman
University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburg. [email protected]
The usefulness of the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (MDRS) for Spanish
dominant elderly adults has seen little empirical documentation, though
there is considerable reason to hypothesize its value with this diverse and
growing population. A Spanish adaptation of the MDRS (MDRS-SA) was
developed for the present study in a manner to facilitate linguistic
equivalence. Reliability for the MDRS-SA showed high split half internal
consistency across all scales and Total Score. Two groups of elderly
adults, one neurologically impaired and one not, both with low Mexican
American acculturation level, Spanish dominance, and little formal
education were participants. Results of a MANCOVA analysis, controlling for
age, education, acculturation, and gender, showed the MDRS-SA to be
effective at discriminating between groups across all scales (p < .001)
and Total Score (p < .05). After determining significant differences
between original norms and normative data on the present Spanish group,
clinical utility of these statistical findings was investigated by
generating specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy rates for the MDRS-SA
Total Score, using Spanish normative data. Results of this preliminary
study supported the MDRS-SA for use within the Mexican American, Spanish
dominant elderly population, though additional larger validation studies
are needed, particularly with well-documented clinical samples.
