Validation of the Korean Version of the General Practitioner Assessment of Cognition (K-GPCog)

Park, Jee Won; Kim, Yong Soon

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Korean version of the General Practitioner Assessment of Cognition (K-GPCog) scale. METHOD: The K-GPCog consists of the 2 subscales, patients and caregivers. Using a sample of 412 community-based Korean older adults, internal consistency reliability was estimated using Cronbach's alpha. To evaluate validity of the K-GPCog, correlational analysis was conducted using Pearson r between K-GPCog and the Korean Dementia Screening Questionnaire (KDSQ).
RESULTS
Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the K-GPCog patients' and caregivers' subscales .788 and .794 respectively. Pearson's correlation coefficients were r=-.374, r=-.481, and r=-.493, respectively for the subscales of patients and primary caregivers, and total K-GPCog. The degree of diagnostic agreement about the risk for cognitive disorders of older adults showed 11.7% and 11.2% respectively for the K-GPCog and the KDSQ.
CONCLUSION
The findings provided preliminary evidence of the K-GPCog as a useful screening measure for detecting mild cognitive disorders of Korean older adults. The K-GPCog is particularly useful to identify cognitive disorders from primary caregivers when it is difficult to assess the level of cognition of older adults.