Cross-national comparison and validation of the XXXX Assessment Scale: results from the European Harmonization Project for Instruments in @entity303 (EURO-HARPID).

@entity1 @entity11509 @entity303 @entity195
BACKGROUND: The @entity195 Assessment Scale ( @entity11509 ) is often used in international multicenter trials. Use across countries presupposes correct translation and adaptation of the scale, and maintenance of its psychometric properties. OBJECTIVES: To compare the various translations of the @entity11509 used in Western Europe, to design internationally harmonized translations and to validate these. SETTING: International cooperative study in eight European countries. METHODS: An inventory was made of existing versions of the @entity11509 -Cog used in eight European countries, and adaptations were made. The concurrent validity of the harmonized versions of the @entity11509 was tested in 283 @entity1 with probable or possible @entity195 . The Nurses Observation Scale for Geriatrics (NOSGER), CAMCOG-R and MMSE was used to assess concordance between cognitive and behavioral measures. RESULTS: Differences between the versions mainly involved object naming, items for verbal memory, such as the number of trials allowed, the imagery value of the words selected as targets or distractors, and the number of parallel versions. These differences were eliminated by adapting and harmonizing the various versions of the @entity11509 -Cog. Thereafter, only small differences between the different countries were found, and patterns of correlation between @entity11509 -Cog, and the NOSGER, CAMCOG-R and MMSE were consistent. CONCLUSIONS: The study underlines the need to use harmonized versions of instruments for rating @entity303 in multinational studies. The findings indicate that the harmonization of the @entity11509 -Cog was successful.
