Reliability of a Recently Developed Clinical Prospective Memory Task in a Community-Dwelling Sample of Older Adults

COPYRIGHT 2015 BY PSI CHI, THE INTERNATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY IN PSYCHOLOGY (VOL. 20, NO.4/ISSN 2164-8204) *Faculty mentor Prospective memory (PM) refers to the ability to remember to carry out future intentions such as remembering to buy specific items at the grocery store or taking medications at the scheduled time (Einstein & McDaniel, 1990; Thompson, Henry, Withall, Rendell, & Brodaty, 2011; Troyer & Murphy, 2007). Intact PM is necessary for high-performance daily living and contributes to successful independent living in older adults (Schmitter-Edgecombe, Woo, & Greeley, 2009). PM requires the integrated functioning of multiple cognitive abilities that involve a complex network of brain regions including neocortical areas in the prefrontal lobes in addition to other cortical areas such as the mesio-temporal and parietal lobes, and subcortical structures such as the thalamus (Bisiacchi, Cona, Schiff, & Basso, 2011; Burgess, Quayle, & Frith, 2001; Spindola & Brucki, 2011; West, 1996). PM relies upon both retrospective and prospective components (Einstein & McDaniel, 1990). The retrospective component is dependent on episodic memory and is involved in encoding and retrieving the content of the future intentions (Einstein & McDaniel, 1990). By contrast, the prospective component is mediated by executive control functions that enable an individual to retrieve and initiate delayed intentions despite ongoing activities that may be unrelated to the task to be performed (Costa et al., 2010; Spindola & Brucki, 2011; Troyer & Murphy, 2007). Thus, the prospective component is crucial for remembering the delayed intention in the absence of an external prompt (Costa et al., 2010). The retrospective and prospective components of PM, respectively, are associated with the medial temporal lobe and ABSTRACT. Although recent research has identified a prominent prospective memory (PM) deficit in mild cognitive impairment, a preclinical dementia condition, PM tasks are not routinely utilized in neuropsychological assessments of older adults. With a limited number of PM tests available for use, the Royal Prince Alfred Prospective Memory Test (RPA-ProMem; Radford, Lah, Say, & Miller, 2011) was developed as a measure that includes both timeand event-based tasks measured over shortand long-term retention intervals. We investigated 3 aspects of reliability of the RPA-ProMem in community-dwelling older participants without dementia (N = 257) and with varying degrees of cognitive complaints and impairment. Interrater reliability was strong for total scores (Intraclass Correlation Coefficient; ICC = .97, p < .001) and for the 4 parts (ICCs > .90, p < .001). Internal consistency reliability was comparably weak (α = .50) due to the multidimensionality of the measure. Statistical equivalence of mean scores across the 3 RPA-ProMem forms was used to demonstrate parallel forms reliability. The RPA-ProMem demonstrated adequate reliability, was well-tolerated by participants, and was easily incorporated into the test battery. We offer suggestions for altering the RPA-ProMem so that it may be used more effectively with older adults with various cognitive profiles. Reliability of a Recently Developed Clinical Prospective Memory Task in a Community-Dwelling Sample of Older Adults