Factor Structure of the Memory for Intentions Test (MIsT): A Conceptual Replication in Older Adults and People with HIV Disease

ABSTRACT

Objective

The Memory for Intentions Test (MIsT) is a clinical measure of prospective memory that has strong evidence for convergent, discriminative, and ecological validity. This study uses a conceptual replication design to evaluate the latent structure of the MIsT in two parallel samples who commonly experience prospective memory deficits: older adults and people living with HIV disease.

Participants and Methods

Study participants included 303 people with HIV disease (ages 18–67) and 267 community-dwelling older adults (ages 50–91). Confirmatory factor analyses of the MIsT were conducted separately in each sample. We evaluated a one-factor model, as well as three two-factor models with the MIsT items loading onto each factor based on cue type, delay interval, or response modality.

Results

The one-factor model provided the best (and most parsimonious) fit to the data in both study samples. All two-factor models also demonstrated good fit statistics, although correlations between the two factors in each model were high and none of the two-factor models provided a significantly better fit than the one-factor model.

Conclusions

Results of this conceptual replication study provide support for a robust factor structure of the MIsT across older adults and people with HIV disease. A total score for the MIsT provides the most parsimonious solution, although available evidence and theory also support the potential use of subscales (e.g., cue type). Future studies of the MIsT would be useful to determine its psychometrics in different clinical populations and across demographic factors (e.g., race/ethnicity).

KEYWORDS:

• Psychometrics
• test construction
• neuropsychological assessment
• episodic memory
• aging

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Sarah Raskin and Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc for providing us with the MIsT. The authors have no financial conflicts of interest related to this work. This study was partly supported by NIH grants R01-MH073419 and P30-MH62512. The authors are grateful to the UC San Diego HIV Neurobehavioral Research Program (HNRP) Group (I. Grant, PI) for their infrastructure support of the parent R01. In particular, we thank Donald Franklin, Dr. Erin Morgan, Clint Cushman, and Stephanie Corkran for their assistance with data processing, Marizela Verduzco for her assistance with study management, Drs. Scott Letendre and Ronald J. Ellis for their assistance with the neuromedical aspects of the parent project, and Dr. J. Hampton Atkinson and Jennifer Marquie Beck and their assistance with participant recruitment and retention. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense, nor the United States Government. The authors thank the study volunteers for their participation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [P30-MH62512,R01-MH073419].