Enfeeblement in Essential Tremor: Development and Validation of a New Psychometric Measure

Daniel Trujillo Diaz, Tess E.K. Cersonsky, Sarah Kellner, Maria Anna Zdrodowska, Ruby Hickman, Stephanie Cosentino, Joan K. Monin, Elan D. Louis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Introduction: Despite a growing body of knowledge regarding essential tremor (ET), past studies have fallen short in capturing the full impact of ET on patients and caregivers. We propose enfeeblement (i.e., having the qualities of being prematurely old, helpless, or debilitated) as a novel clinical outcome measure in ET. Due to the lack of enfeeblement scales for ET in the literature, we developed and validated an enfeeblement scale for ET. Methods: The Essential Tremor Enfeeblement Survey (ETES) consists of eight 5-point Likert-type scale questions and is designed to be a caregiver-reported outcome. Results: Enfeeblement scores showed a floor effect of 15.3%, no ceiling effects, and demonstrated good overall test–retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.73), favorable internal consistency (Cronbach α coefficient = 0.92) and good convergent validity. Conclusion: The ETES has robust properties. Aside from future studies of enfeeblement in ET, enfeeblement should be explored more broadly as a psychometric measure across other neurological disorders.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)145-151
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology
Volume32
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - May 1 2019
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • clinical outcome measure
  • enfeeblement
  • essential tremor
  • psychometrics
  • validation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Clinical Neurology
  • Geriatrics and Gerontology
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

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