Revising the Resistiveness to Care Scale.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The Resistiveness to Care Scale for Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type was developed to quantify care-resistant behavior. The purpose of this article is to explain how the instrument was modified and tested in two clinical studies that examined interventions to improve the oral hygiene of persons with dementia who resist care.

METHODS: After pilot testing, the revised instrument (RTC-r) was used in 7 facilities (N = 83 residents). Systematic training procedures were implemented to preserve reliability.

RESULTS: Clinical validity was confirmed throughout the pilot and interventional studies. Reliability was assessed using inter-rater reliability, which ranged from 0.87 (p < .001) to 1.0 (p < .001) across 2,328 mouth care observations.

CONCLUSIONS: The RTC-r validly and reliably measures care-resistant behavior in persons with dementia.