What evidence shows that the PAINAD scale identifies patients in pain?
There are several published tools for assessing pain in people with dementia. The PAINAD scale is one of the most appropriate for use in people with advanced dementia because the behavioral indicators reflect those seen in this population. According to the original study on the PAINAD scale, it was moderately reliable and valid for measuring behaviors related to pain in the people studied (in that case, elderly, white, male veterans with advanced dementia).1 * Reliability. The PAINAD scale has moderate internal consistency (Cronbach’s [alpha] coefficients ranging from 0.30 to 0.83).1 This indicates that the five behaviors assessed are moderately associated with one another when the instrument is used in people with advanced dementia. With an objective measure of pain, interrater reliability (the extent to which two or more raters agree when using the tool) is very important. Interrater reliability for the PAINAD scale was assessed during different activities (pleasant versus unpleasant
