[Retrospective assessment of the Dutch version of the Discomfort Scale--Dementia of Alzheimer Type (DS-DAT): is estimation sufficiently valid and reliable?].

The Discomfort Scale--Dementia of Alzheimer Type (DS-DAT) measures discomfort in severely demented patients with scores on nine items with behavioral descriptors. Direct observation of behaviour is the preferred method in severely demented patients, but is not feasible for some types of research. Alternatively, a patient's score may be assessed 'retrospectively', scoring an overall picture of the patient.