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. 2022 Jan;29(1):139-157.
doi: 10.1080/13825585.2020.1859081. Epub 2021 Feb 23.

Informant report of practical judgment ability in a clinical sample of older adults with subjective cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia

Laura A Rabin  1   2 , Crystal G Guayara-Quinn  2 , Caroline O Nester  2 , Liam Ellis  3 , Nadia Paré  3   4
Affiliations

Informant report of practical judgment ability in a clinical sample of older adults with subjective cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia

Laura A Rabin et al. Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn. 2022 Jan.

Abstract

Despite the importance of capturing problems with judgment and decision-making during neuropsychological evaluations of older adults, there are a limited number of validated measures and no informant rating scales. We developed an informant measure that captures compromised judgment related to safety, medical, financial, and social-ethical issues After item refinement and piloting in a memory disorders clinic, we utilized the Test of Practical Judgment-Informant (TOP-J-Informant) at two clinics in the Midwestern U.S., including 189 patient/informant dyads (mean age = 79.0, median years of education = 13, % female = 67.7) with various preclinical and clinical dementia conditions. We found psychometric support, including evidence for convergent, divergent, and criterion-related validity, and internal consistency. Importantly, we were able to discriminate between diagnostic groups in the expected direction. The TOP-J-Informant is brief (<5 minutes), easy to administer, and can reveal areas of concern related to poor judgment when administered in the context of a neuropsychological evaluation or clinic visit.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Judgment; Test of Practical Judgment; informant report; instrument validation; mild cognitive impairment; neuropsychological assessment; older adults; questionnaire.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure Statement: No conflict of interest was declared.

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Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Scree Plot with One Factor Extracted
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