Reliability of a telephone‐administered cognitive test battery (TACT) between telephone and face‐to‐face administration

Abstract

AbstractWe have previously described the development and initial validation of a telephone administered cognitive test battery (TACT). This report investigates the retest reliability of the TACT battery between telephone administration and face‐to‐face administration and measures the concurrent validity of the test components against a standard test of cognitive ability, the WAIS‐RUK. Data were collected on 27 participants aged 62–63 years. There was a two‐ to 10‐month interval between time 1 (telephone) and time 2 (face‐to‐face) administration. Intra‐class correlation coefficients for telephone versus face‐to‐face administration of the TACT were satisfactory for all component measures except for ‘object rotation’ and WAIS similarities. There was no evidence of systematic cheating on the telephone‐administered test. Tests of concurrent validity showed stronger correlations for the TACT battery components with verbal tests rather than performance tests, as measured by the WAIS‐RUK. A few administration difficulties are noted and recommendations for change are outlined. The TACT is a convenient assessment tool with potential for measuring cognitive change in epidemiological studies. Copyright © 2001 Whurr Publishers Ltd.