The Blessed Scale is used to assess the person's mental state, how he develops in his daily activities. It is quick to apply and easy to administer, and it also quantifies the degree of dementia and its severity. It is quite useful for general practitioners and psychologists, both to identify a possible case of dementia and to assess its progression over time. It is preferred over MMSE because the Blessed Scale has the advantage that it measures functional aspects of dementia.
The scale consists of 22 items that are asked to an informant close to the patient, questions which are collected in the following 3 main areas:
1. Changes in the execution of activities of daily living
This area consists of 8 items, which ask about daily tasks, handling and use of money, remembering lists, orienting yourself around the house and in the urban space, recognizing family members, valuing the environment, remembering recent events and recalling the past.
In this section, a score of 1 is an indicator of complete inability to perform the task asked, a score of ½ is an indicator of partial, variable or intermittent disability for that activity and a score of 0 indicates that the patient has no problem in do that homework.
2. Changes in habits
This area consists of 3 items that evaluate aspects related to eating, dressing, and potty training. This section is scored from 0 to 3, being the part that contributes the most to the overall score of the questionnaire.
3. Changes in personality, interests and impulses
This area consists of 11 items that assess changes in personality and impulses, such as increasing withdrawal, increased egocentrism, in addition to loss of interest in feelings, dull affect, loss of emotional control, laughter for no apparent reason, less emotional response and indiscretions sexual.
If the behavior is present it is scored with 1 and if it is absent it is scored with 0.