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Dimensional Apathy Scale (DAS) Informant
Availability
Please visit this website for more information about the instrument: Dimensional Apathy Scale Informant/ Carer-Rated Version
Classification
Supplemental - Highly Recommended: Parkinson's Disease (PD)
Recommendations for use: Studies requiring a carer/informant reported measure of apathy and/or a dimensional assessment of apathy.
Short Description of Instrument
The Dimensional Apathy Scale (DAS) is a 24 item caregiver reported scale that measures apathy over the last month in three subscales: executive (lack of motivation for organization, planning, or attention), emotional (lack of emotional motivation, indifference or emotional neutrality), and initiation (lack of motivation for self-generation of thought and or/actions). Based on Levy and Dubois's model of apathy subtypes in PD (Levy et al., 2006).
 
A self-report version is also available.
 
A brief version (b-DAS) is also available.
Comments/Special Instructions
The carer/informant provides ratings from "almost always" to "hardly ever" for 24 items based on their observation of how the person has been feeling, behaving, or thinking, in the last month.
Scoring and Psychometric Properties
Scoring: Total score ranges from 0 to 72 and higher scores indicate greater apathy.
 
A total score of >28.5 is proposed as a cut-off score for clinically significant apathy in PD (Santangelo et al., 2017).
 
Subscale scores range from 0 to 24 and higher scores indicate greater apathy.
 
Psychometric Properties: In PD, there is good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=0.92), good convergent validity to the apathy evaluation scale (AES)-caretaker/informant-rated version (r=090, p<0.001) (Radakovic et al., 2018). The DAS-caretaker/informant ratings did not correlate with Hoehn and Yahr scale (Radakovic et al., 2018). GDS-15 significantly correlated with DAS total (r=0.80, p<0.001), executive (r=0.75, p<0.001), emotional (r=0.73, p<0.001), but not the initiation subscale.
Rationale/Justification
Strengths: Multidimensional assessment of apathy that may be independent of motor symptom disability. Takes about 5 minutes to complete.
 
Weaknesses: Psychometric study (Radakovic et al, 2018) in PD caretakers/informants used a small sample (N=30). May overlap with depression measures.
References
Key Reference:
Radakovic R, Abrahams S. Developing a new apathy measurement scale: Dimensional Apathy Scale. Psychiatry Res. 2014 Nov 30;219(3):658-63.
 
Additional References:
Levy R, Dubois B. Apathy and the functional anatomy of the prefrontal
cortex-basal ganglia circuits. Cereb Cortex. 2006 Jul;16(7):916-28.
 
Radakovic R, Davenport R, Starr JM, Abrahams S. Apathy dimensions in Parkinson's disease. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2018 Jan;33(1):151-158.
 
Santangelo G, D'Iorio A, Piscopo F, Cuoco S, Longo K, Amboni M, Baiano C, Tafuri D, Pellecchia MT, Barone P, Vitale C. Assessment of apathy minimising the effect of motor dysfunctions in Parkinson's disease: a validation study of the dimensional apathy scale. Qual Life Res. 2017 Sep;26(9):2533-2540.
 
Document last updated August 2022