Development of the Telephone-based Daily Instrumental Activities of Living (T-DIAL) to assess financial management remotely in older adults.

The current study evaluated the reliability and validity of a novel, performance-based banking task in 60 younger (18-34 years) and 60 older (50-85 years) adults. All participants completed the Telephone-based Daily Instrumental Activities of Living (T-DIAL) using interactive voice response technology to complete a series of mock actions with a financial institution via telephone. The T-DIAL showed strong inter-rater reliability and internal consistency. T-DIAL accuracy was significantly and independently related to better self-reported instrumental activities of daily living and executive functions at a large effect size. Findings from this study provided preliminary supportive evidence for the reliability and validity of the T-DIAL, which had robust associations with manifest everyday functioning and higher-order cognitive ability. Future work is needed on the psychometrics (e.g. test-retest reliability, normative standards), and construct validity (e.g. diagnostic accuracy) of the T-DIAL in neurocognitive disorders and under-served communities for whom remote evaluations might be particularly relevant.

Cognitive Intra-individual Variability in the Laboratory Is Associated With Greater Executive Dysfunction in the Daily Lives of Older Adults With HIV.

BACKGROUND: Executive dysfunction, which is common among persons with HIV (PWH), can have an adverse impact on health behaviors and quality of life. Intra-individual variability (IIV) is a measure of within-person variability across cognitive tests that is higher in PWH and is thought to reflect cognitive dyscontrol. OBJECTIVE: To assess whether cognitive IIV in the laboratory is associated with self-reported executive dysfunction in daily life among older PWH. METHOD: Participants included 71 PWH aged ≥50 years who completed six subtests from the Cogstate battery and two subscales from the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe; self-report version). Cognitive IIV was calculated from the Cogstate as the coefficient of variation derived from age-adjusted normative T scores. RESULTS: Cognitive IIV as measured by the Cogstate showed a significant, positive, medium-sized association with current FrSBe ratings of executive dysfunction but not disinhibition. CONCLUSION: Higher cognitive IIV in the laboratory as measured by the Cogstate may be related to the expression of HIV-associated symptoms of executive dysfunction in daily life for older PWH.

Historical trends in reporting effect sizes in clinical neuropsychology journals: A call to venture beyond the results section.

OBJECTIVE: For decades, quantitative psychologists have recommended that authors report effect sizes to convey the magnitude and potential clinical relevance of statistical associations. However, fewer than one-third of neuropsychology articles published in the early 2000s reported effect sizes. This study re-examines the frequency and extent of effect size reporting in neuropsychology journal articles by manuscript section and over time. METHODS: A sample of 326 empirical articles were drawn from 36 randomly selected issues of six neuropsychology journals at 5-year intervals between 1995 and 2020. Four raters used a novel, reliable coding system to quantify the extent to which effect sizes were included in the major sections of all 326 articles. RESULTS: Findings showed medium-to-large increases in effect size reporting in the Methods and Results sections of neuropsychology journal articles that plateaued in recent years; however, there were only very small and nonsignificant changes in effect size reporting in the Abstract, Introduction, and Discussion sections. CONCLUSIONS: Authors in neuropsychology journals have markedly improved their effect size reporting in the core Methods and Results sections, but are still unlikely to consider these valuable metrics when motivating their study hypotheses and interpreting the conceptual and clinical implications of their findings. Recommendations are provided to encourage more widespread integration of effect sizes in neuropsychological research.

Preliminary Validity of a Telephone-Based Neuropsychological Battery in a Consecutive Series of Persons with HIV Disease Referred for Clinical Evaluation.

OBJECTIVE: The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated use of remote assessments by clinical neuropsychologists. Telehealth was particularly important for vulnerable groups, including persons living with HIV (PLWH); however, limited internet access can be a serious barrier to care. This study examined the preliminary validity of a telephone-based neuropsychological assessment in a clinical sample of PLWH. METHOD: A consecutive series of 59 PLWH were assessed via telephone at an HIV clinic in the southern U.S. between April 2020 and July 2022. The battery included auditory-verbal neuropsychological tests of memory, attention, and executive functions, and questionnaires assessing self-reported mood and activities of daily living (ADL). RESULTS: Study measures demonstrated acceptable internal consistency. PLWH demonstrated worse neuropsychological performance compared with expectations derived from the normal curve and an HIV-seronegative adult sample (N = 44). PLWH assessed via telephone demonstrated similar impairment rates to that of a consecutive series of PLWH (N = 41) assessed in-person immediately prior to the pandemic. Higher telephone-based global neuropsychological scores were related to younger age, more education, better fund of knowledge, White race/ethnicity, fewer medical conditions, and fewer depression symptoms. Global neuropsychological impairment was strongly and independently associated with greater dependence in ADL domains, particularly for instrumental activities. CONCLUSIONS: Although telephone-based approaches to neuropsychological assessment are not ideal, these data provide support for the feasibility, internal consistency, and preliminary validity of this method in a consecutive clinical series of PLWH. The direct comparability of telephone-based and in-person neuropsychological assessments remains to be determined by prospective, counterbalanced study designs examining both PLWH and seronegative individuals.