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Development And Psychometric Validation Of The Dementia Attitudes Scale, Melissa L. O'Connor, Susan H. Mcfadden

Aging Studies Faculty Publications

This study employed qualitative construct mapping and factor analysis to construct a scale to measure attitudes toward dementia. Five family caregivers, five professionals, and five college students participated in structured interviews. Qualitative analysis of the interviews led to a 46-item scale, which was reduced to 20 items following principal axis factoring with two different samples: college students () and certified nursing assistant students (). Confirmatory factor analysis was then conducted with another sample of college students (). The final scale, titled the Dementia Attitudes Scale (DAS), essentially had a two-factor structure; the factors were labeled “dementia knowledge” and “social comfort.” …