DOMS

Welcome to DOMS

The Dementia Outcomes Measurement Suite or DOMS is a compendium of validated tools for the assessment of various aspects of dementia by health care professionals.

The DOMS project was originally commissioned under the Australian government’s National Dementia Initiative, and was designed to develop a standard suite of instruments that would be promulgated throughout Australia to encourage clinicians to ‘talk the same language’ by using the same instruments as much as possible.

The content of the full comprehensive review was translated into a user-friendly website format in 2009. In 2016, the website was updated with an increased focus on clinical practice and a wider coverage of:

  • different types of dementia, including frontotemporal dementia
  • severities of impairment, including mild cognitive impairment
  • clinical settings, including primary care versus specialist clinics
  • assessment modalities, including performance-based measures of function

The rating scheme was updated to reflect these changes and included greater emphasis on clinically-relevant psychometrics. The scope has also been expanded to an international audience.

Dementia outcome measures help clinicians assess important changes in people with dementia. Such measures may be used to:

  1. screen for early signs of dementia,
  2. monitor the progression of symptoms or the effect of treatment in patients known to have dementia or
  3. assist in service planning.

and the scope measures across six key areas:

Cognitive decline is one of the earliest symptoms of dementia, particularly for people with Alzheimer’s disease. Cognitive screening can allow for early diagnosis, which allows for treatments to be considered as well as facilitating management and care planning.

Scale Comparison:This easy-to-navigate feature is designed to help you select the most appropriate tool for your clinical or research needs.
Scale Ratings: Detailed information on the quality metrics, based on an extensive overview of the scientific literature.

Downloads

 

Find out more about the individual Cognitive Measures & Tools

Staging measures are used to assess the severity and progression of dementia.

Scale Comparison:This easy-to-navigate feature is designed to help you select the most appropriate tool for your clinical or research needs.
Scale Ratings: Detailed information on the quality metrics, based on an extensive overview of the scientific literature.

Downloads

 

Find out more about the individual Staging Measures & Tools

A dementia diagnosis is based on the degree to which cognitive impairment interferes with independence in everyday activities. Measures to assess functional impairment can be used to support the initial diagnostic process, to assist intervention planning or to measure change in a person’s function as dementia progresses.

Scale Comparison:This easy-to-navigate feature is designed to help you select the most appropriate tool for your clinical or research needs.
Scale Ratings: Detailed information on the quality metrics, based on an extensive overview of the scientific literature.

Downloads

 

Find out more about the individual Function Measures & Tools

Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD) occur in the majority of people with dementia and include apathy, agitation, aggression, disinhibition, depression and psychotic symptoms. Some scales are designed to assess multiple BPSD, while others are specific to a single symptom.

Scale Comparison:This easy-to-navigate feature is designed to help you select the most appropriate tool for your clinical or research needs.
Scale Ratings: Detailed information on the quality metrics, based on an extensive overview of the scientific literature.

Downloads

 

Find out more about the individual BPSD Measures & Tools

Delirium is a rapid but reversible change in cognitive functioning characterised by confusion, hallucinations, misinterpretation of events and sleep disturbance, which usually results from an acute but potentially treatable physiological condition such as drug intoxication, fever or cardiovascular disorder. The accurate detection and discrimination of delirium from dementia is an important task particularly in acute hospital settings.

Scale Comparison:This easy-to-navigate feature is designed to help you select the most appropriate tool for your clinical or research needs.
Scale Ratings: Detailed information on the quality metrics, based on an extensive overview of the scientific literature.

Delirium

 

Find out more about the individual Delirium Measures & Tools

Quality of Life broadly refers to a person’s sense of subjective well-being across several domains including physical, psychological and social. Dementia-specific QoL measures assess the efficacy of health and social service interventions for persons with dementia. As dementia-related changes in cognition may make self-report unreliable, these measures include combined self/informant scales and informant-only scales.

Scale Comparison:This easy-to-navigate feature is designed to help you select the most appropriate tool for your clinical or research needs.
Scale Ratings: Detailed information on the quality metrics, based on an extensive overview of the scientific literature.

Quality of life

 

Find out more about the individual QoL Measures & Tools