Join us Tuesday, February 17 at 12 PM ET for the CLSA webinar “Cognitive impairment indicator for the neuropsychological test batteries in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging: Definition and evidence for validity.” The webinar will be presented by Megan E. O’Connell, Clinical Neuropsychologist and Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Department of Psychology and Health Studies at the University of Saskatchewan.
The CLSA’s cognitive impairment indicator is a way to summarize performance across the battery of tests given in the Tracking and Comprehensive cohorts. This webinar will detail the development of the tool, including its derivation from the normatively corrected scores, and detail evidence for its validity. Dr. O’Connell will present on how the normative approach addresses potential bias in measurement due to language of administration, sex, education, and corrections utilized to account for advancing age.
One advantage of the cognitive impairment indicator is that is allows for an assessment of impaired performance at the level of the individual. The webinar will discuss issues in extending this approach to future waves of CLSA, including for follow-ups where a large portion of the Comprehensive cohort got their assessments by telephone due to COVID. The webinar will further address how missing data will be a particular challenge for developing a cognitive impairment indicator for future follow up waves.
Megan E. O’Connell is a registered doctoral clinical psychologist and Professor of Psychology at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research explores neuropsychological measurement relevant to dementia, technology for remote dementia care, and cognitive aging. She has been involved in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) for over a decade, contributing to projects and publishing as a first-author on several papers exploring measurement in the CLSA.. She has published over 144 peer-reviewed scientific articles, and has been practicing in the diagnostic Rural and Remote Memory Clinic since 2008.
