The Construct Validity and Clinical Utility of the Frank Jones Story as a Brief Screening Measure of Cognitive Dysfunction

Abstract

The use of quick and easily administered screening measures of cognitive functioning has become increasingly important in clinical settings. A number of brief screening instruments are available, but few have been thoroughly examined for their validity and clinical utility. The Frank Jones Story is a 2-minute screening procedure proposed to measure problem solving by asking patients to explain an absurd proposition. The authors used this screen to help them classify 155 patients as cognitively impaired or unimpaired based on a full neuropsychological evaluation. Overall, the total score on the Frank Jones Story was a good predictor of intact functioning for patients that were unimpaired but was poor at predicting cognitive dysfunction. However, various subscores of the test reflected differing patterns of sensitivity and specificity for cognitive impairment. These data suggest that the Frank Jones Story might have some utility for initial screening for cognitive dysfunction.