Initial psychometrics of the ambiance scale: A tool to study person-environment interaction in dementia

Abstract

Our purpose was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Ambiance Scale (AS), a new instrument that assesses the capacity of long-term care environments for generating affective and behavioural responses in people with dementia. Within the context of three parent studies of dementia-related behaviour in long-term care settings, we conducted a cross-sectional correlational study by creating two separate samples of ratings from among all those available. Factor analysis revealed a two-factor structure (engaging, soothing) for the AS. Internal consistency and evaluation of inter- and intra-rater reliability were favourable. A consistent pattern of ratings on the AS and its subscales, moderate subscale correlations, and significant differences between facility types: nursing homes (NH) vs assisted living facilities (ALF) and among selected locations (residents’ rooms, dining rooms, halls) within facility types support construct validity of the scale.

Acknowledgement

The authors acknowledge the Need-driven Dementia-compromised Behavior (NDB) Interactive Research Group for their assistance in this study, with special thanks to Cynthia Beel-Bates, PhD, RN; Corrine Lambert PhD, RN; and Kathleen Byrne Colling, PhD, RN, for their roles in managing field operations in facilities participating in this study and further thanks to Barry DeCicco, MS, for initial work to merge and clean data files across projects for analysis. This study was funded by NIH projects NR04568 (PI, A. Whall), NR04569 (PI, D. Algase) and NR04570 (PI, C. Beck).