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The Reliability of a Survey Psychiatric Assessment Schedule for the Elderly

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

John Bond ,
Patrick Brooks ,
Vera Carstairs  and
Louise Giles
John Bond
Affiliation:
Information Services Division, Common Service Agency, Scottish Health Service, Trinity Park House, South Trinity Road, Edinburgh EH5 3SQ
Patrick Brooks
Affiliation:
Information Services Division, Common Service Agency, Scottish Health Service, Trinity Park House, South Trinity Road, Edinburgh EH5 3SQ
Vera Carstairs
Affiliation:
Information Services Division, Common Service Agency, Scottish Health Service, Trinity Park House, South Trinity Road, Edinburgh EH5 3SQ
Louise Giles
Affiliation:
Scottish Home and Health Department, St Andrews House, Edinburgh EH1 3DB
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Summary

The Survey Psychiatric Assessment Schedule (SPAS) was used in a survey of elderly people living at home and in institutions to examine its reliability in determining mental state. A psychiatrist assessed the same subjects using the Geriatric Mental State Schedule (GMSS) and classified psychiatric disorder into three broad groups: organic disorders, schizophrenia and paranoid disorders, and affective disorders and psychoneuroses. The agreement between the psychiatrist's classification of mental state and the classification derived from SPAS was found to be satisfactory for organic disorders and less satisfactory for functional disorders. The limitations of this method of identifying psychiatric illness are examined.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 137 , Issue 2 , August 1980 , pp. 148 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1980 

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