Comparative analysis of house drawings in older adults with and without dementia.

Abstract

The present study attempted to determine whether house drawings of adults over age seventy-five were significantly different between adults with dementia and adults without dementia. The methods and scoring procedures presented in this study are important in developing quick and efficient screening devices for cognitive functioning. Forty-one participants (19 dementia, 22 non-dementia) drew a house from memory (command administration) and copied a three-dimensional model of a house (copy administration). Two judges, trained in the Kirk and Kertesz (1993) scoring criteria, scored the drawings independently. Inter-rater reliability levels between raters' scores were 0.75 indicating the mean overall impairment was the only item within an acceptable range. All other items did not meet acceptable inter-rater reliability standards. Results indicated command and copy scores were significantly lower, indicating higher quality, in non-dementia than dementia group. No significant differences were present between command drawings and copy drawings in the dementia group. No significant differences occurred between command and copy conditions of non-dementia group supporting hypothesis three. Visual differences in illustrations were also present between dementia and nondementia group. The methods and scoring criteria of this particular study are useful in identifying those with moderate to severe dementia and non-dementia. However, due to reliability issues, lack of specific and clear definitions in scoring criteria, and labor intensive tasks this screening device is a less than adequate screening tool.