S.V.E.B.A. una scala per la valutazione del benessere emotivo dell’anziano

The “Scala di Valutazione dell’Emotività e del Benessere dell’Anziano” (SVEBA) (Evaluation Scale of Affectivity and Well-Being in the Elderly) is a psychometric tool consisting of 15 “yes/no” questions, devised for the rapid clinical screening of affective disorders. A validation study of the scale matched the SVEBA score and both the interview evaluation and the Symptoms Rating Test score (SRT-Italian validated form). The subjects (321 volunteers) were distributed according to essential socio-demographic characteristics of the Italian population. The results confirmed a high concomitant validity with respect to both SRT and clinical evaluation, although with respect to the latter it revealed less specificity. In two subsequent trials with out-patients and long-term hospitalized patients, the SVEBA scale showed a high degree of empirical validity and a satisfactory sensitivity also in the case of slight-mild cognitive deficit. The presence of medical illness appeared to be unrelated to the affective distress quantified by the SVEBA scale.