Validation of the virtual-reality prospective memory test (Hong Kong Chinese version) for individuals with first-episode schizophrenia

ABSTRACT

This study was performed to examine the psychometric properties of a Virtual-Reality Prospective Memory Test (Hong Kong Chinese version; VRPMT-CV). The VRPMT was administered to 44 individuals with first-episode schizophrenia. The test was administered again 2 weeks later to establish test-retest reliability. The concurrent validity of the VRPMT was evaluated by examining the correlations between the VRPMT score and the score on the Chinese version of the Cambridge Prospective Memory Test (CAMPROMPT-CV). The performance of individuals with schizophrenia on the VRPMT was also compared with that of 42 healthy control subjects to examine the test’s sensitivity and specificity. The intraclass correlation for test–retest reliability of the total VRPMT–CV score was 0.78 (p = .005). A significant correlation was found between the total VRPMT-CV score and the total CAMPROMPT-CV score (r = 0.90; p < .001). Comparison with the healthy control subjects revealed that the total VRPMT-CV score was a sensitive (92.9%) and specific (75%) measure of prospective memory deficits in individuals with schizophrenia. The VRPMT-CV is an assessment of prospective memory that has good construct validity, test–retest reliability, sensitivity and specificity in the context of first-episode schizophrenia.

KEYWORDS:

• First-onset schizophrenia
• prospective memory
• Virtual Reality Memory Test
• reliability
• validity
• sensitivity
• specificity

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the staff members of Halfway House III and Joyous Place Hostel of New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, TWGHs Yeung Sing Memorial Long Stay Care Home and Caritas Jockey Club Lai King Rehabilitation Centre for providing staunch support in our research project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

David H. K. Shum http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4810-9262

Additional information

Funding

The study was funded by Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University [grant number H-ZG66].