Hooper visual organization test: Psychometric properties and regression-based norms for the Venezuelan population

Abstract

The Hooper Visual Organization Test (HVOT) is used to assess visual organization and visual synthesis. Psychometric studies reveal cultural biases and associations between demographic variables and test performance capable of compromising the test’s clinical utility. The present study aimed to adapt the HVOT, explore the psychometric properties of this test, and develop regression-based norms for the Venezuelan population. Using a cross-sectional design, the HVOT was administered to a stratified sample of 351 healthy adults (20–85 years of age and 0–23 years of education) from the Metropolitan Area of Caracas. The results revealed good levels of internal consistency and reliability. Confirmatory Factor Analysis suggests that the HVOT is unidimensional. Item difficulty, types and rate of errors and inappropriateness of some items indicated a potential cultural bias in our Venezuelan sample. Spearman’s Correlation and Wilcoxon Rank test analysis (p<.001) showed a significant association between HVOT total score and age, education, and gender, but not with socioeconomic status. We present regression-norms stratified by age, years of education, and gender. Cultural biases were noted, which highlights the need for a revision of items in terms of inclusion, scoring, and order of presentation. Future studies of concurrent and predictive validity are needed.

Keywords:

• Construct validity
• Hooper
• HVOT
• norms
• visuospatial ability

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the members of the Hospital Universitario de Caracas that were part of this project, especially to the psychologists Sandra Crespo, Alyst Castro, and Melissa Rosales. We are grateful to Dr Petra Gaylard for her assistance with the statistical analyses.