What is the ADCQ?

The Alzheimer's Disease Caregiver’s Questionnaire (ADCQ) is an 18-item symptom checklist that is completed by a caregiver (i.e., family member, spouse, companion) or someone else who has knowledge of a patient or individual. Each symptom is rated either present (yes), absent (no), or not applicable (NA). The ADCQ takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete, requires no participation from the physician or health care professional, and does not require cooperation or even participation from the patient. It can be completed in the course of an interview with a caregiver or companion, or the caregiver can complete it in the waiting room, by mail, or on the Internet. The instrument is intended to be used to rate only individuals who are 40 years of age or older.

Initial validation of the ADCQ was completed with a sample of 141 Alzheimer's disease patients who were diagnosed using the criteria established by the National Institute of Neurological and Communication Disorders and Stroke/Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association (NINCDS/ADRDA; McKhann, et al., 1984). The initial validation sample also included 93 individuals who were evaluated and subsequently were determined not to have Alzheimer’s disease based on the NINCDS/ADRDA criteria.

What does it cost to take the ADCQ?

Individual administration. The cost of an individual administration is $9.95 when paying by credit card.

Information about volume discounts and prepaid group arrangements. Group accounts that allow for reduced prices can be arranged through the publisher of the ADCQ, Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc. as follows.

For 501 uses or more, please e-mail your request to adcqcs@parinc.com. We will contact you by the next business day. Please note all payments are in U.S. currency.

How was the ADCQ developed and validated?

The initial development efforts focused on compiling a list of attributes that describe Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients. This was accomplished by surveying current research and then consulting a number of experts regarding appropriate item selection. The initial list included 56 items that could be answered "Yes" or "No." This list was provided to a group of caregivers to determine whether they could understand the questions and could respond "Yes" or "No" appropriately to each item. Subsequently, many items were revised and a response alternative of “NA” was added.

In the initial validation study, caregivers of patients who were successively admitted to an outpatient memory clinic completed the ADCQ before the patients were seen by a clinician. Data were also collected for an age- and education-matched sample of community dwelling individuals whose companions completed the ADCQ. This healthy community group then received neuropsychological evaluation to verify their cognitive status. The final sample consisted of 141 caregivers of patients with a history of successive admissions to an outpatient neuropsychology clinic subsequently diagnosed with probable Alzheimer's disease using NINCDS/ADRDA criteria (McKhann et al., 1984) and 93 cognitively intact individuals. The sample of patients with probable Alzheimer's disease was all Caucasian and had a mean age of 77 years (SD = 6.4 years), with women comprising 66% of the sample. Members of the control sample who where rated with the ADCQ were also all Caucasian with a mean age of 73 years (SD = 6.8 years), with women comprising 67% of the control group.

The goal of the data analysis was to identify a statistical model that could be applied to the ADCQ items to determine an acceptable level of validity for categorically determining whether the rated individual was Likely or Unlikely to have a dementia consistent with Alzheimer’s disease. The first step in the data analysis was selecting the three best discriminators (symptom items) in each of six categories: Memory, Confusion and Disorientation, Geographic Disorientation, Reasoning and Judgment, Language Abilities, and Behavior. This led to the following 18-item pool:

Memory	1.	Does the person repeat questions about the events of the day?
	2.	Does the person have trouble recalling conversations the next day?
	3.	Does the person have trouble recalling conversations a few days later?
Confusion and Disorientation
	4.	Has there been confusion while doing familiar things?
	5.	Has the person become confused about financial matters (for example, paying bills multiple times)?
	6.	Has the person become confused regarding the day, month, or year?
Geographic Disorientation	7.	Has the person become lost or confused when driving or walking in a familiar place?
	8.	Has the person seemed bewildered or confused in familiar places?
	9.	Has the person become lost while traveling in an unfamiliar location?
Reasoning and Judgment	10.	Does the person have difficulties adjusting to changes in his/her day-to-day routine?
	11.	Does the person have trouble performing tasks that require many steps (for example, balancing a checkbook or cooking a meal)?
	12.	Is the person unable to respond with a reasonable plan to problems at work or home, such as knowing what to do if the bathroom is flooded or the electricity goes out?
Language Abilities	13.	Are there pauses in his/her speech?
	14.	Is the person often unable to find even common words or familiar names, so that he/she finds it difficult to have a normal conversation?
	15.	Does the person often forget what he/she wanted to say in the middle of a conversation?
Behavior	16.	Have there been any changes in personality (including mood and behavior)?
	17.	Has the person been agitated?
	18.	Have the person's problems worsened steadily?

How can I arrange to have my patient's caregiver take the ADCQ?

You can arrange to have caregivers or companions of your patients complete the ADCQ online using the ADCQ web site (www.adcq.net) or in your office using the ADCQ software.

Using the ADCQ Web Site. To use the ADCQ web site you can simply provide the ADCQ web site address to your patient’s caregiver. Ask the caregiver to complete the questionnaire, print out the report, and bring the report to the scheduled evaluation. This method would require that the caregiver (or the patient) would pay for the report using a credit card. Alternatively, you could establish a group account with the publisher of the ADCQ, Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc. When you open a group account, you pay in advance for a certain number of administrations. You will receive an access code and password for each individual administration. You would then need to refer caregivers of your patients to the web site and provide them with the ADCQ access code and password, which will allow them to take the ADCQ and then print out the Caregiver’s Report. (Use this method only if the caregivers of your patients have access to the Internet, either in their homes or in your office.) You could choose to absorb the cost of the administration or you could bill the patient. Please Click here to review the pricing information for prepaid group arrangements and volume discounts.

Using the ADCQ Desktop Software. The ADCQ is also available as desktop software. You should use the ADCQ Desktop Software when caregivers have no access to the Internet. The software can be loaded easily onto a computer in your office. The software can either administer the ADCQ on-screen in a manner similar to the web site, or the caregiver’s responses from the paper-and-pencil version of the ADCQ can be entered manually into the software. Click here to request more information about purchasing the ADCQ Software and/or the paper-and-pencil version of the ADCQ from Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.