a Department of Psychology , University of Toronto , Toronto , Canada.
b Neuropsychology and Cognitive Health Program , Baycrest Health Sciences , Toronto , Canada.
Clin Neuropsychol. 2018 Aug;32(6):1068-1083. doi: 10.1080/13854046.2017.1360946. Epub 2017 Aug 22.
Prospective memory is the ability to 'remember to remember' and a facet of memory important to everyday functioning. For older adults, prospective memory slips are a common concern. In the present study, we conducted an initial validation of a paper-and-pencil adaptation of the Actual Week test, and reported on internal consistency, inter-rater and test-retest reliability, convergent and divergent validity, as well as veridicality of the task.
Fifty-eight healthy, community-dwelling older adults were recruited from a larger randomized controlled trial and tested at baseline. The Actual Week test was a naturalistic five-day prospective memory task where participants were assigned eight hypothetical tasks to remember per day for five days. Tasks were either time-cued or event-cued and regular (i.e. occurring daily) or irregular (i.e. varied each day). The proportion of tasks that were recorded as on time and accurate was used as the primary measure of performance.
The Actual Week test had good internal consistency (Kuder-Richardson: r > .8), intra-test (intraclass correlation: α > .9) and test-retest reliability (r = .76). There was also evidence for convergent and divergent validity. Task performance was associated with age, but not years of education or sex.
The Actual Week test demonstrated strong psychometric qualities and promising evidence for validity as a performance-based measure of everyday prospective memory in older adults. Avenues for future studies include extending the evidence for convergent validity and evaluating feasibility and utility with other clinical populations.
前瞻性记忆是“记得要记得”的能力，是对日常功能很重要的记忆的一个方面。对于老年人来说，前瞻性记忆失误是一个常见的问题。在本研究中，我们对实际周测试的纸笔改编版进行了初步验证，并报告了内部一致性、评分者间信度和测试-重测信度、聚合和发散效度以及任务的真实性。
从一项更大的随机对照试验中招募了 58 名健康的社区居住老年人，并在基线时进行了测试。实际周测试是一项自然主义的五天前瞻性记忆任务，参与者每天被分配 8 个假设任务，持续五天。任务要么是时间提示，要么是事件提示，要么是常规（即每天发生），要么是不规则（即每天变化）。记录任务的准时和准确的比例作为主要的绩效衡量标准。
实际周测试具有良好的内部一致性（Kuder-Richardson：r>.8）、内测试（组内相关系数：α>.9）和测试-重测信度（r=.76）。也有聚合和发散效度的证据。任务表现与年龄相关，但与受教育年限或性别无关。
实际周测试表现出了强大的心理测量学特性和有效性的有希望的证据，作为一种基于表现的老年人大脑日常前瞻性记忆的测量方法。未来研究的方向包括扩展聚合效度的证据，并评估其在其他临床人群中的可行性和实用性。
