A Preliminary Psychometric Analysis of a Computer-Assisted Administrationof the Telephone Interview of Cognitive Status-Modified.

Most screening tests of cognitive functioning require face to face administrationby trained examiners. This limits their utility in epidemiology and in primarycare settings. Further, existing screening tests have not been developed usingestablished psychometric principles. We adapted the Telephone Interview ofCognitive Status-modified (TICSm) for administration as a computer-assistedtelephone interview (CATI). We screened 3,681 elderly women with the CATIversion of the TICSm, using lay staff as part of a longitudinal study. A preliminaryanalysis of the psychometric properties of the TICSm indicated good internalconsistency. Test-retest reliability is needed to confirm reliability. Furtherwork remains to adequately judge the validity of the TICSm including comparisonswith well-standardized tests and assessment of its predictive properties inidentifying dementia. However, the CATI version of the TICSm appears to havepotential as a cost-effective means of testing cognitive performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]