A validation study on the clinical screening examination for memory

✍ Scribed by James H. Johnson; Charles Mc Cusker; Charles Boyd

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1976
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 176 KB
• Volume: 32
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9762
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-4679(197601)32:1<90::aid-jclp2270320126>3.0.co;2-6

✦ Synopsis

PROBLEM

I n clinical practice the psychologist often is called upon t o make judgments about the memorial functioning of a patient. These judgments usually concern ruling out severe deficits in memory rather than a fine grading of memory abilities. Because of time limitations, the clinician does not always examine the patient rigorously with standardized memory instruments ( 3 ) . Rather, he relies on a series of memory questions such as, "What did you have to eat for breakfast?" or "What are the newspaper headlines about these days?" This general method has a long history of clinical acceptance for screening and is recommended in most handbooks on the mental status examination(5). Despite widespread usage, experimental data have not been widely available to date with regard to the validity of the clinical memory examination procedure. This study provides data that concern the relationships among the usual clinical approach to memory measurement and results from several standard memory tests.