Validity and Reliability Study of the Thai Version of the Functional Assessment Staging Test (FAST) for Dementia Patients
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64960/srimedj.v41i2.270278Keywords:
dementia severity staging, end-stage dementia care, Thai assessment tool, inter-rater reliabilityAbstract
Background and objective: The Functional Assessment Staging Test (FAST) is an internationally validated tool for evaluating the severity of Alzheimer's disease — the most common cause of dementia — across 7 stages and 16 sub-levels. This study aimed to translate and examine the content validity and inter-rater reliability of the Thai version of the FAST.
Methods: The translation process followed ISPOR guidelines, comprising forward translation, review by three experts, back-translation by two specialists, and inter-rater reliability testing by two raters in 30 patients with dementia at Srinagarind Hospital between August 2024 and January 2025. Data were analyzed using the Content Validity Index (CVI) and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC).
Results: The Thai version of the FAST demonstrated a CVI of 0.89 and an ICC of 0.995 (95% CI: 0.990–0.997, p < 0.001). The majority of patients were classified in FAST stages 6–7 (90.0%).
Conclusion: The Thai version of the FAST demonstrates excellent content validity and inter-rater reliability, making it suitable for staging dementia in the Thai context — particularly in patients with advanced disease — to support prognosis, care planning, and timely referral to palliative care.
References
World Health Organization. Dementia [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2023 [cited Dec 23, 2024]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/dementia
Griffiths J, Thaikruea L, Wongpakaran N, Munkhetvit P. Prevalence of Mild Cognitive Impairment in Rural Thai Older People, Associated Risk Factors and their Cognitive Characteristics. Dement Geriatr Cogn Dis Extra 2020;10(1):38-45. doi:10.1159/000506279.
Katz S, Ford AB, Moskowitz RW, Jackson BA, Jaffe MW. Studies of illness in the aged. The index of ADL: A standardized measure of biological and psychosocial function. JAMA 1963;185(12):914-9. doi:10.1001/jama.1963.03060120024016.
GBD 2019 Dementia Forecasting Collaborators. Estimation of the global prevalence of dementia in 2019 and forecasted prevalence in 2050: an analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. Lancet Public Health 2022;7(2):e105-e125. doi:10.1016/S2468-2667(21)00249-8.
van der Steen JT, Radbruch L, Hertogh CM, de Boer ME, Hughes JC, Larkin P, et al. White paper defining optimal palliative care in older people with dementia: A Delphi study and recommendations from the European Association for Palliative Care. Palliat Med 2014;28(3):197-209. doi:10.1177/0269216313493685.
Folstein MF, Folstein SE, McHugh PR. "Mini-mental state". A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. J Psychiatr Res 1975;12(3):189-98. doi:10.1016/0022-3956(75)90026-6.
Nasreddine ZS, Phillips NA, Bedirian V, Charbonneau S, Whitehead V, Collin I, et al. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA: a brief screening tool for mild cognitive impairment. J Am Geriatr Soc 2005;53(4):695-9. doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2005.53221.x.
Perneczky R, Wagenpfeil S, Komossa K, Grimmer T, Diehl J, Kurz A. Mapping scores onto stages: Mini-mental state examination and clinical dementia rating. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 2006;14(2):139-44. doi:10.1097/01.JGP.0000192478.82189.a8.
Trzepacz PT, Hochstetler H, Wang S, Walker B, Saykin AJ; Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Relationship between the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and Mini-mental State Examination for assessment of mild cognitive impairment in older adults. BMC Geriatr 2015;15:107. doi:10.1186/s12877-015-0103-3.
Reisberg B. Stages of cognitive decline. Am J Nurs 1984;84(2):225-8.
Reisberg B. Functional assessment staging (FAST). Psychopharmacol Bull 1988;24(4):653-9.
Auer SR, Reisberg B. The GDS/FAST staging system. Int Psychogeriatr 1997;9(Suppl 1):167-71. doi:10.1017/S1041610297004869.
Sclan SG, Reisberg B. Functional Assessment Staging (FAST) in Alzheimer's disease: Reliability, validity, and ordinality. Int Psychogeriatr 1992;4(Suppl 1):55-69. doi:10.1017/S1041610292001157.
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. Guidelines for determining prognosis in selected non-cancer diseases. 2nd ed. Alexandria, VA: National Hospice Organization; 1996.
Tangwongchai S, Charernboon T, Phanasathit M, Akkayagorn L, Hemrungrojn S, Phanthumchinda K, et al. The validity of Thai version of The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-T). Dement Neuropsychol 2019;13(2):209–16. doi:10.1590/1980-57642018dn13-020010.
Wild D, Grove A, Martin M, Eremenco S, McElroy S, Verjee-Lorenz A, et al. Principles of good practice for the translation and cultural adaptation process for patient-reported outcomes (PRO) measures: Report of the ISPOR Task Force for Translation and Cultural Adaptation. Value Health 2005;8(2):94-104. doi:10.1016/j.jval.2005.02.006.
Pinyopornpanish K, Pinyopornpanish K, Jiraporncharoen W, Kunaviktikul W, Klunklin A, Thongsawat S, et al. Timing of palliative care referral for patients with dementia: a retrospective study. BMC Palliat Care 2021;20(1):151. doi:10.1186/s12904-021-00851-x.
Koo TK, Li MY. A guideline of selecting and reporting intraclass correlation coefficients for reliability research. J Chiropr Med 2016;15(2):155-63. doi:10.1016/j.jcm.2016.02.012.
Polit DF, Beck CT. The content validity index: Are you sure you know what's being reported? Critique and recommendations. Res Nurs Health 2006;29(5):489-97. doi:10.1002/nur.20147.
Dong Y, Sharma VK, Chan BP, Venketasubramanian N, Teoh HL, Seet RC, et al. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is superior to the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) for the detection of vascular cognitive impairment after acute stroke. J Neurol Sci 2010;299(1-2):15-8. doi:10.1016/j.jns.2010.08.051.
Hamedani AG, Gao Y, Willis AW, Langa KM. Comparing retrospective informant assessments to prospectively collected cognitive measures in the Health and Retirement Study. Alzheimers Dement2025;17(3):e70138. doi:10.1002/dad2.70138.
Mo L, Geng Y, Chang YK, Philip J, Collins A, Hui D. Referral criteria to specialist palliative care for patients with dementia: A systematic review. J Am Geriatr Soc 2021;69(6):1659–69. doi:10.1111/jgs.17070.
Mitchell SL, Teno JM, Kiely DK, Shaffer ML, Jones RN, Prigerson HG, et al. The clinical course of advanced dementia. N Engl J Med 2009;361(16):1529-38. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa0902234.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Srinagarind Medical Journal

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
