A new kid on the block: The Memory Validity Profile (MVP) in children with neurological conditions

ABSTRACT

Determining the validity of obtained data is an inherent part of a neuropsychological assessment. The purpose of this study was investigate the failure rate of the Memory Validity Profile (MVP) in a large clinical sample of children and adolescents with neurological diagnoses. Data were obtained from 261 consecutive patients (mean age = 12.0, SD = 3.9, range = 5–19) who were referred for a neuropsychological assessment in a tertiary care pediatric hospital and were administered the MVP. In this sample, 4.6% of youth failed the MVP. Mean administration time for the MVP was 7.4 min, although time to complete was not associated with failure rates. Failure rates were held relatively consistent at approximately 5% across age ranges, diagnoses, and psychomotor processing speed abilities. Having very low, below normal, or above normal intellectual abilities did not alter failure rate on the MVP. However, those with intellectual disability (i.e., IQ<70) had a higher fail rate at 12% on MVP Total Score, but only 6% on the MVP Visual portion. Failure rates on the MVP were associated with lower scores on memory tests. This study provides support for using the MVP in children as young as 5 years with neurological diagnoses.

KEYWORDS:

• Children
• adolescents
• effort
• malingering
• validity

Acknowledgments

The authors thank all of those who helped collect, enter, and maintain these data in the BrainChild database, including (alphabetically) Kalina Askin, Christina Bigras, Dominique Bonneville, Shauna Bulman, Dr. Helen Carlson, Hussain Daya, Andrea Jubinville, Christianne Laliberté-Durish, Shelby MacPhail, Lonna Mitchell, Carlie Montpetit, Dr. Vickie Plourde, Jasmine Santos, Emily Tam, Shane Virani, and Nikola Zivanovic. Thanks to the families who agreed to participate in our research.

Conflict of Interest

Brian Brooks and Elisabeth Sherman are co-authors of the Memory Validity Profile (MVP; Sherman and Brooks, 2015) and receive royalties for the sale of this test. Brian Brooks and Elisabeth Sherman also receive royalties for the sales of the Pediatric Forensic Neuropsychology textbook (2012, Oxford University Press) and two other pediatric neuropsychological tests [Child and Adolescent Memory Profile (ChAMP, Sherman and Brooks, 2015, PAR Inc.) and Multidimensional Everyday Memory Ratings for Youth (MEMRY, Sherman and Brooks, 2017, PAR Inc.)]. The other authors do not report a conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

The BrainChild database, which is the centralized digital storage system for all data collected in neuropsychological assessments, was supported by funding from the Kinsmen Chair of Pediatric Neurosciences, the ACHRI Neurotrauma Fund, and the ACH Neurosciences Program (Conny Betuzzi). Brian Brooks acknowledges salary funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) Embedded Clinician Researcher Salary Award.