Re-evaluation of psychometric evidence and update of normative data for the Test of Practical Judgment

Abstract

Objective

The Test of Practical Judgment (TOP-J) has shown utility in inpatient and outpatient settings in older adults who present with mild cognitive impairment and various dementia subtypes. The TOP-J has two versions (i.e. 9 items and 15 items), and was initially validated within a small rural non-Hispanic White sample. In the current study, we re-evaluated the psychometric evidence and refined scoring criteria and administration guidelines in older adults with more diverse demographic characteristics than the original validation sample. Method: Participants (N = 348) were recruited from several boroughs of New York City and surrounding areas (mean/median age = 79; mean years education = 15, median = 15.5; 68% female; 30% Black/African-American, 8% Hispanic). Results: Reliability and validity were comparable to original findings. Based on confirmatory factor analysis, one item was replaced on the 9-item version, now called TOP-J Form A. Normative data for cognitively intact participants (n = 261) were updated and stratified by two education groups. Conclusions: The TOP-J is increasingly used in clinical and research settings in the U.S. and abroad, and the current study provides improved normative data and administration and scoring guidelines for use with demographically diverse older individuals.

Keywords:

• Judgment
• older adults
• functional capacity
• neuropsychological assessment
• Test of Practical Judgment

Acknowledgements

Portions of this research project were presented at the 41st Annual Meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society (February 2013). This paper will comprise one part of the dissertation of author C.G. Quinn. We would like to thank Dr. Desiree Byrd for valuable feedback on updating normative data by pooling for increased diversity; Dr. James Galvin for advising on the recruitment of multicultural participants; Dr. Alla Chavarga for statistical advice regarding the assessment of parametric assumptions; and Dr. Matthew Diemer for his consultation on psychometric analyses.

Disclosure statement

No conflict of interest was declared.

Notes

1 The TOP-J Form A and newly developed manual are available upon request to authors L. Rabin ([email protected]) and/or C. Quinn ([email protected]).

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health NIA F31 AG063472, NIA/NIGMS SC2AG039235, NIA 2 P01 AG03949, NIA 1R01AG039409-01, NIA R21 AG056920, NIA R15 AG066039, the Leonard and Sylvia Marx Foundation, and the Czap Foundation, and CUNY Doctoral Student Research Grant.