Copyright & Dissemination Policy
Copyright & Dissemination
The Washington University The Charles F. and Joanne Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (Knight ADRC) holds the United States Copyright for the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) and associated training materials. An important part of the Knight ADRC's educational mission is to ensure that the CDR is widely and readily available for use by professionals in clinical and research settings. Protecting the integrity of the instrument and ensuring appropriate utilization are equally important priorities.
The CDR scoring table and rules were published in the journal NEUROLOGY, 1993; 43:2412-2414 (author Morris, JC). Reprinting of this table in a publication requires permission from the publisher - Lippincott, Wilkins & Williams.
The CDR may be used for clinical care and non-commercial research purposes without formal permission of the Knight ADRC. Individuals or corporations intending to use the CDR for clinical trial or other for-profit purposes must obtain prior permission. To apply for the permission, send a 1-2 page abstract detailing the title of the study, its purpose, target population, the agent or intervention under investigation, how the CDR is to be used (e.g., as a primary or secondary outcome), and a plan for training of study personnel in CDR administration/scoring, to Andrea Denny, Assistant Education Core Leader. This information will be distributed to an internal Washington University committee for review. Feedback is usually provided in 7 days or less.
Training
Prospective users of the CDR should be trained to administer the semi-structured interview and use the Scoring Table in a valid, reliable manner. We prefer to provide such training through live, in-person sessions either at our offices or at pre-arranged remote events. Such live training is often not possible, however. The CDR On-line Training System was developed with two purposes in mind: (1) as a supplement to in-person training and (2) as a stand-alone training option for individuals and groups that cannot participate in an in-person session. In-person training is important to ensure valid administration, whereas the on-line system helps to ensure reliability in scoring.
Individual Access
There is no charge to individual trainees for utilizing the CDR On-line Training System. Interested individuals must apply to receive password access. The Washington University Knight ADRC reserves the right to bar access to prospective trainees who do not provide a bona fide reason for receiving CDR training.
Group or Corporate Access
Group or corporate users of the training system should contact Andrea Denny (314-362-0433) concerning access options and applicable fees. Corporations seeking to train personnel for a clinical trial may utilize an existing protocol or request that a new, tailored protocol be developed. The Knight ADRC has developed three such tailored protocols for the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study, for example. Specific content and fees for tailored protocols are arranged on a case-by-case basis.
Confidentiality Protection
The CDR On-line Training System utilizes video segments of real patient interviews. All interview participants provided informed consent for their images to be shown for appropriate educational purposes. Apart from the visual appearance of each interviewee, there is no other identifying information in these interview segments. Nevertheless, we ask that approved trainees (1) respect the confidentiality of those they observe and (2) refrain from discussing interview content with others. Browsers of the CDR On-line Training System may view certain video segments but with the faces of interviewees blocked out.
