A-237 Validation and Psychometric Properties of the Word Choice Test-10, An Abbreviated Performance Validity Test

Abstract

Abstract Objective: The purpose of the study was to validate an abbreviated 10-item version of the Word Choice Test (WCT). Method: One hundred and ten clinically-referred participants (M age=55.92, SD=14.07; M education=13.74, SD=2.43; 84.5% Male; 47.3% White, 32.7% Hispanic, 15.5% African American, 2.7% Multiracial, 0.9% American Indian, 0.9% Other) completed the WCT as part of a larger battery of neuropsychological tests in a Veterans Affairs (VA) outpatient clinic. The sample included individuals with no cognitive diagnosis (n=37), individuals with a cognitive diagnosis (n=43), and individuals that were determined to have invalid performance across multiple criterion PVT measures (n=30). Results: Total scores on the 10-item abbreviated Word Choice Test (WCT-10) were significantly correlated with total scores on the 50-item WCT standard form (r(108) =.88, p < .01), the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) Trial 1 (r(108) =.60, p < .01), and the Reliable Digit Span (RDS) forward/backward (r(108) =.34, p < .01). Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis for the WCT-10 indicated optimal cutoff of ≥ 2 errors, with 53% sensitivity and 96% specificity (AUC=.825, p < .001), while ROC analysis for the standard 50-item WCT indicated an optimal cutoff of ≥ 8 errors with 70% sensitivity and 91% specificity (AUC=.890, p < .001). Conclusions: Results provide evidence for the clinical utility of the WCT-10 as a brief, freestanding performance validity test in a mixed clinical sample of Veterans with and without cognitive impairment. Utilizing the WCT-10 may reduce overall neuropsychological evaluation time, while providing evidence for validity of cognitive test performance.