Evaluating the outcome of interventions on quality of life in dementia: selection of the appropriate scale.

Background: A literature study was conducted to contribute to an adequate use of quality of life (QoL) instruments for the evaluation of interventions in dementia care by providing an overview of properties of QoL measures that acknowledge domains important to dementia patients.

Methods: Domains important to patients, and domains that professional caregivers in different settings focus on, are compared to domains represented in nine QoL instruments. Data on psychometrics and applicability are generated.