Assessment & Staging Tools
Use the Tools!
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Dementia Behavioral Assessment Tool (DBAT)
The DBAT helps family and professional caregivers recognize the Person with Dementia’s current level of decline, the amount of estimated brain tissue that is lost or impaired, the emotional equivalency of age, and the next steps required for care.
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FTD Assessment Tool
The FTD Assessment Tool is designed to assess and stage persons with FrontalTemporal Dementia. FrontoTemporal Dementia (FTD) is named because it primarily affects the frontal and temporal lobes. It is the most common dementia between the ages of 40-60.
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Actively Dying Assessment Tool (ADAT)
The Actively Dying Assessment Tool allows for professional and family caregivers to track and recognize the signs and stages of the final part of life. Beginning in the final months, the tool provides the expected behaviors and physiological changes occurring in people who are actively dying.
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PAINAD
Untreated pain can contribute to challenging behaviors. This tool allows the caregiver to measure the level of pain in a Person with Dementia. Many Persons with Dementia cannot alert caregivers to pain due to damage to the brain.
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Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia
This tool is valuable to demonstrate effectiveness of interventions, especially anti-depressant treatment when it is completed before the intervention and several weeks after.
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Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale
The Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale helps caregivers assess the level of anxiety the Person with Dementia is experiencing.
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Bristol ADL Test
The Bristol test — developed by the Bristol Medical School in England specifically for persons with dementia — is another tool for assessing activities of daily living. It includes 20 questions designed to reveal the everyday ADL capability of patients with dementia and memory loss.
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St. Louis University Mental Status Examination (SLUMS)
The SLUMs Examination is a screening test for dementia. It is an alternative to the widely used Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). SLUMS was designed to identify people with early dementia symptoms, also known as mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
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IQ on Cognitive Decline
This tool is a short form of the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly, also know as the Short IQ Code. It provides a good measure between how you remember a Person with Dementia was 10 years ago compared to today.
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Zarit's Caregiver Burden Scale
Caregiver burnout is a common occurrence, along with compassion fatigue. This tool is helpful in determining how caregivers are coping with stress and fatigue.
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MM Caregiver Grief Inventory
This inventory is designed to measure the grief experience of current family caregivers of persons living with progressive dementia (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease).
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Geriatric Depression Scale
This tool allows caregivers to detect depression in Persons with Dementia.
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Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale
This tool provides a quick way to assess a person with dementia on a range of psychiatric symptoms, including anxiety, withdrawal, tension, suspicion, and more.