Model System:

TBI

Reference Type:

JA

Accession No.:

J66146

Journal:


Neurorehabilitation

Year, Volume, Issue, Page(s):

, 32, 2, 253-265

Publication Website:

Abstract:

Study identified appropriate factor structures for the Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone (BTACT) to determine an appropriate method for applying modern psychometric approaches. Telephone cognitive batteries are useful for large-scale screening and epidemiological studies, but their brevity and lack of content depth may cause psychometric limitations that hinder their utility. This study addressed some of these limitations by rescaling the BTACT using modern psychometric methods. A bi-factor model was fit to a combination of item-level, subscale-level, and scale-level data obtained from a national sample of 3,978 participants in the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States Cognitive Project. The best fitting model contained a general factor and secondary factors capturing test-specific method effects or residual correlations for Number Series, Red/Green Test, and the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. Factor scores generated from this model were compared with conventional BTACT scores. Important score differences were found in 28 percent of the sample. When judged against a number of clinical and demographic criterion variables, the bi-factor scores demonstrated slightly superior validity than conventional BTACT scores. The results indicate that modern psychometric approaches to scoring the BTACT have the benefit of linear scaling and a modest criterion validity advantage.

Author(s):


Gavett, BE, Crane, PK, Dams-O'Connor, K