Longitudinal Study of a Novel, Performance-based Measure of Everyday Functional Competence
Abstract
As the Alzheimer s disease field moves to studies and intervention trials in the preclinical phase and early prodromal period, it will be necessary to measure everyday function in an increasingly more sensitive and sophisticated way to capture more subtle impairments. One approach to increasing sensitivity in functional measures is to use performance based instruments, such as the UCSD Performance-based Skills Assessment (UPSA), in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or mild Alzheimer s disease (AD) research. In this test patients are observed and their response scored as they actually perform proxies for real world tasks and it contrasts with more typical informant based measures. In a preliminary study we compared patients with MCI, patients with mild AD, and healthy age matched controls on the UPSA. We found that patients with MCI had compromises in everyday functional competence and that the UPSA was strikingly sensitive to these (Goldberg et al, 2010). However, that study was not longitudinal. Therefore, it is important that we obtain data on the longitudinal characteristics of the UPSA in these populations, including psychometric characteristics, size of decline, etc. To date, we have enrolled 23 subjects in the study to date. Preliminary results demonstrate: 1. high test-retest reliability that is greater than .80; 2. large Effect Size differences between healthy controls and a mixed MCI/AD group, greater than 2.2; and 3. excellent validity indicators for our short form. This set of results is in keeping with our predictions
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA579931
Entities
People
- Terry Goldberg
Organizations
- The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research