Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly-Short Form (IQCODE-S)

Dementia and cognitive decline mainly affect older people. Several instruments have been developed for screening and detection of cognitive impairments, among them is the short form of the informant questionnaire on cognitive decline in the elderly (IQCODES); however, there was no instrument to assess it in Persian language speakers. The purpose of the present study was to validate the Persian version of informant questionnaire on cognitive decline in the elderlyshort form (IQCODE-S).

In this study, WHO's standard 'forward-backward' translation procedure was performed. Validity and reliability of the questionnaire were evaluated and it was administered in a sample of 373 inpatient Iranian elderlies. The convenient sampling was performed to include participants from family members care giving older patients with long diagnosed of dementia. Face and content validity were evaluated and reliability of the instrument was evaluated. Significant level was set at 0.05.

The mean age of the participants was 71.08 ± 9.89 years. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.82. Significant correlations were observed between cognitive status and age, marital status, education and hospitalized wards (Pvalue < 0.05). Appropriate CVI and CVR were calculated as .85 and .7 respectively.

This study reports on translation and validation of Persian version of one of the most important screening tools for dementia. It reveals significant association between the elderlies’ cognitive decline and their age, marital status, education, and hospitalized ward.