The 25 item Dementia Knowledge Assessment Scale (DKAS) is an instrument developed by the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre. It is a validated, reliable scale that measures the knowledge of dementia in the general population, family care partners of people living with dementia, and health professionals.
Using the Dementia Knowledge Assessment Scale (DKAS)
The Dementia Knowledge Assessment Scale (DKAS) is a validated tool for measuring dementia knowledge. It provides summative, item and subscale scores to allow researchers to explore what different individuals and groups understand about the condition. The DKAS can be used as a baseline measure, a means of understanding knowledge differences between groups, or to evaluate knowledge change following education.
The 25 item DKAS was developed between 2015 – 2017 and underwent a program of extensive pre- and pilot-testing with cohorts of health professionals and lay people. Features of development include a Delphi study with international dementia experts, literature reviews of current dementia research, and pilot testing with a large international cohort. The scale was developed to reflect contemporary and best-evidence information on dementia, including general characteristics, symptoms, risk factors, care, and treatment. The DKAS is appropriate for use by health professionals, students, family care partners, and the general public.
Please see the following publications regarding the development of the (English) scale:
Annear, M. J., Toye, C., McInerney, F., Eccleston, C., Tranter, B., Elliott, K.-E., & Robinson, A. (2015). What should we know about dementia in the 21st Century? A Delphi consensus study. BMC Geriatrics, 15(1), 5. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-015-0008
Annear, M. J., Toye, C. M., Eccleston, C. E., McInerney, F. J., Elliott, K.-E. J., Tranter, B. K., Hartley, T., & Robinson, A. L. (2015). Dementia Knowledge Assessment Scale: Development and Preliminary Psychometric Properties. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 63(11), 2375-2381. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.13707
Annear, M. J., Eccleston, C. E., McInerney, F. J., Elliott, K.-E. J., Toye, C. M., Tranter, B. K., & Robinson, A. L. (2016). A New Standard in Dementia Knowledge Measurement: Comparative Validation of the Dementia Knowledge Assessment Scale and the Alzheimer's Disease Knowledge Scale. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 64(6), 1329-1334. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.14142
Annear, M. J., Toye, C., Elliott, K.-E. J., McInerney, F., Eccleston, C., & Robinson, A. (2017). Dementia knowledge assessment scale (DKAS): confirmatory factor analysis and comparative subscale scores among an international cohort. BMC Geriatrics, 17(1), 168. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-017-0552-y
Accessing the DKAS
Permission is not required for usage of the English version of the DKAS instrument within the conditions of its CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Creative Commons licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
However, we do ask you to register your use of the DKAS instrument by emailing DKASregistration@utas.edu.au with brief details of your research or evaluation project and your institution. You will then be able to download the instrument and scoring instructions free of charge.
Other usage
Permission is not required for use unless you intend to:
- modify or translate the instrument, including removing items or changing their wording, or
- use the instrument for commercial purposes.
In these cases, please seek permission from the team by emailing Claire.Eccleston@utas.edu.au before proceeding.
Translations
The instrument has also been translated into a number of languages by other researchers collaborating with the Centre. To access any of these translations free of charge, email the DKAS development team at Claire.Eccleston@utas.edu.au or by contacting these researchers at their institutions.
- Arabic by Mazen Alhaj Ahmad, Shahem Alhaj Ahmad, Kareem Mustafa, Mohammed Al-Kubaisi, Lamees Amir Mohamedali, Abdulla Habib, and Hussein Huwaijah, from the University of Sharjah, College of Medicine, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
- Chinese (Traditional) by researchers from Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan: Dr Huei-Chuan Sung, RN, Director & Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Long-term Care, Hsin-Feng Su, RN, Lecturer, Department of Nursing, & PhD student, Institute of Medical Sciences and Hsiu-Mei Wang, RN, PhD student, Institute of Medical Sciences.
- Chinese (Simplified) by Yayi ZAHO, PhD student and Dr. Helen Y.L. CHAN, associate professor, RN, PhD, from the Nethersole School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
- Canadian French by Stephanie Ayers, Lori Mosca, Anthony Levison, McMaster University, Canada.
- German by researchers from Cantonal Hospital Winterthur (Switzerland): Sabine Krause, CCRN, RN, MScN; Silvia Graf, RN, MScN; Dr Cornelia Lips RN, MScN, PhD; and Rita Müller CCRN, RN, MScN.
- Greek by Constantina Demosthenous, Registered Clinical Psychologist, Ph.D. candidate, Center for Applied Neuroscience and Fofi Constantinidou, Ph.D., CCC-S, CBIS, Professor of Language Disorders and Clinical Neuropsychology & Director of Center for Applied Neuroscience, from the University of Cyprus.
- Italian by Carloa Guaia, National Ageing Research Institute, COASIT translator from Co.As.It Sydney, Silvia Teani, NAATI, and Josefine Antoniiades, National Ageing Research Institute.
- Kannada by Clerita Martis PhD, Elsa Sana PhD, Rajeshkrishna Bhandary P MD MBBS, and Venkataraya Bhandary MBBS at Manipal University, India.
- Persian by Omid Gheisvandi, Associate Professor Farnaz Etesam, Imam Khomeini, Associate Professor Zahra Vahabi and Dr Zahra Hooshyari, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran.
- Sinhala by Dr Sarath Rathnayake (RN, BSC N (hons), MScN (Res), PhD), University of Pardeniya, Sri Lanka and Ms Thilanka Jagoda (RN, RM, BScN (Hons), MScN), University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka.
- Spanish (Cuba) by Lic. Zoylen Fernández Fleites, Dr. Yunier Broche-Pérez and MSc Elizabeth Jiménez Puig from Departamento de Psicología, Universidad Central "Marta Abreu" de Las Villas, Cuba.
- Thai by the Thai researchers: Kanthee Anantapong, Aimorn Jiraphan , Napakkawat Buathong, Warut Aunjitsakul , Pakawat Wiwattanaworaset, Suwanna Setthawatcharawanich from Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai; Pornjira Pariwatcharakul, Kritta Supanimitamorn, Kitikan Thana-udom, Chatchawan Rattanabannakit from Mahidol University, Bangkok; Pongsatorn Paholpak, Sirinapa Aphisitphinyo, Pattharee Paholpak from Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen and Nopdanai Sirimaharaj, Tinakon Wongpakaran, Nahathai Wongpakaran from Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai.
- Turkish by Dr. Merve Aliye Akyol (RN, PhD), Associate Professor Burcu Akpinar Sӧylemez (RN, PhD) and Professor Özlem Kücükgüclü (RN, PhD), from the Dokuz Eylul University Faculty of Nursing, Department of Internal Medicine Nursing, İzmir, Turkey); and Assistant Professor Seher Gӧnen Şentürk (RN, PhD) from the Çankırı Karatekin University Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Internal Medicine Nursing, Çankırı, Turkey.
- Vietnamese by Dai Xuan Dinh (MSc, Hanoi University of Pharmacy), Huong Thi Thanh Nguyen (Assoc. Prof., Hanoi University of Pharmacy), Tuan Van Nguyen (Assoc. Prof., Hanoi Medical University), and Van Minh Nguyen (MSc, Hanoi University of Public Health).