Examining the Utility of the Saskatchewan Mood Inventory for Individuals with Memory Loss

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe Saskatchewan Mood Inventory (SMI) is a caregiver-focused assessment and research tool that was designed to enhance understanding of the emotional experiences of individuals with dementia and to identify relationships between level of cognitive impairment and family member ratings of pleasant and unpleasant emotional responses during daily activities. Family members were instructed to use the semi-structured written log to document prospectively the type and intensity of emotion expressed by the individual with dementia, to describe the associated emotion-evoking events or activities, and to monitor and record their own emotional reactions. Twenty-seven family caregivers recruited from Alzheimer support groups used the log consistently during a 2-week monitoring period to document an average of three emotion-evoking events per day. Average emotion ratings were more positive for individuals with moderate levels of dementia than for those with severe cognitive impairment, and caregivers' ratings of their family members' and their own emotional states were positively correlated. The event-reporting procedures produced narrative descriptions of emotion-evoking activities that were subsequently coded for content. Inter-rater reliability estimates were high. Event-category summaries are reported in association with positive, negative, and neutral emotional responses for individuals with moderate and severe levels of dementia. Level of impairment was related both to the relative frequency of positive and negative emotions and to the type of event category reported by caregivers.