Feasibility, reliability and validity of the Dutch translation of the Anxiety, Depression And Mood Scale in older adults with intellectual disabilities.
The Dutch ADAMS gives BCBAs a single, reliable caregiver form to screen anxiety and depression in adults with ID aged 50 and up.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team translated the Anxiety, Depression And Mood Scale into Dutch. They gave the informant version to caregivers of adults with intellectual disability who were 50 or older. They checked if the Dutch words still measured mood the same way and if different raters agreed.
What they found
The Dutch ADAMS held together well. Internal consistency, test-retest, and inter-rater reliability were all good. The scale also caught most people who already had a mood diagnosis, so it works as a quick screen.
How this fits with other research
Rojahn et al. (2011) tested the English ADAMS on adults 25-65 and saw mixed factorial fit. Heidi et al. now show the Dutch ADAMS behaves better in the 50-plus group, suggesting the tool tightens up when used with seniors.
Timberlake (1993) and Schaal (1996) proved you can screen depression in ID with the Children’s Depression Inventory or a 9-item CPRS subscale. The ADAMS adds anxiety items, giving one form for both problems instead of two separate tools.
Schaaf et al. (2015) warned that most anxiety scales for kids with ID still need more psychometric work. Heidi et al. answer part of that call by giving clinicians an adult version that already has solid reliability data.
Why it matters
If you serve older adults with ID, you can now add the Dutch ADAMS to your intake packet. One short caregiver form flags both anxiety and depression, saving time and missed cases. No need to juggle separate child scales or language-heavy tools.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: The informant-based Anxiety, Depression And Mood Scale was translated into Dutch and its feasibility, reliability and validity in older adults (aged ≥ 50 years) with intellectual disabilities (ID) was studied. METHOD: Test-retest (n = 93) and interrater reliability (n = 83), and convergent (n = 202 and n = 787), discriminant (n = 288) and criterion validity (n = 288) were studied. Convergent and criterion validity were studied for the Depressed mood and General anxiety subscales. Subgroups based on level of ID and autism have been made to study the criterion validity. Psychiatric diagnoses based on the PAS-ADD Interview were used as gold standard. RESULTS: All subscales had good internal consistency (α ≥ 0.80), excellent test-retest reliability (ICC ≥ 0.75) and good interrater reliability (ICC ≥ 0.74), except for the Social avoidance subscale (ICC = 0.57). The Depressed mood subscale showed low correlation (r = 0.44) with the self-report Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology, high correlation with the informant-report Signalizing Depression List for people with ID (r = 0.71) and no correlation with the PAS-ADD's sleep disorders subscale (r = 0.15). Its sensitivity ranged from 73 to 80%, and its specificity from 71 to 79%. The General anxiety subscale showed low correlation with the self-report scales: Glasgow Anxiety Scale (r= 0.37) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (r = 0.41), and no correlation with the sleep disorder subscale (r = 0.02). Its sensitivity ranged from 67 to 100%, and its specificity from 48 to 81%. CONCLUSIONS: The Dutch translation of the ADAMS is reliable and sufficiently valid to screen for anxiety and depression in older people with ID.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2012 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2011.09.018