Understanding Disparities in Mental Status Assessment

本申请旨在探讨根据种族/民族群体或教育程度测量心理状态的差异的意义。我们将通过进行方法学研究来做到这一点，即使用不同方法的模拟和真实的数据进行比较分析，以检测项目偏倚或差异项目功能，一种特殊形式的测量偏倚或测量非不变性。我们的研究是出于经常报告，但尚未完全理解的关系，种族/民族和完成教育的年数和老年人的精神状态指标的表现。本研究项目的总体目标是评估种族/民族和教育程度对晚年认知评估指标的影响程度。研究团队包括来自不同机构的研究人员，他们使用项目反应理论的方法研究了测量不变性。我们研究团队的成员一直处于努力将现代心理测量技术应用于认知功能测量中的偏差检测的前沿，然而，我们认识到这一研究领域仍处于起步阶段。为了实现我们在这方面的目标，我们的具体目标是：（1）进行“基础心理测量学”的研究，不同的方法来检测有偏见的测试项目，比较IRT技术，采用不同的估计策略;（2）评估项目偏见归因于种族/在三项大型一般人口调查中，对群体认知状况评估差异的种族和教育程度影响评估;（3）在认知健康的老年人中，评估教育程度对（a）日常认知功能任务和（B）神经心理学表现（记忆力、推理能力、处理速度）中个别项目和总体能力估计的影响程度。这些目标将通过分析现有和公开可用的数据集或研究者可用的数据集（待公开发布）来实现。这是一个重要的研究领域，既将研究评估偏见以外的机制在多大程度上解释了老年人评估认知的群体差异，又为开发教育适当和文化公平的评估工具提供了信息。

This application proposes to probe the meaning of differences in the measurement of mental status according to racial/ethnic group or level of educational attainment. We will do this by conducting methodological research, namely, comparative analyses using simulated and real data of different approaches to detecting item bias or differential item functioning, a particular form of measurement bias or measurement non-invariance. Our research is motivated by the often reported but as yet incompletely understood relationship of race/ethnicity and years of completed education and performance on mental status measures among older adults. The overarching goal of this research project is to evaluate the extent that item and test bias by race/ethnicity and level of educational attainment influence performance on cognitive assessment measures in late life. The research team includes investigators from different institutions who have studied measurement invariance using the methods of item response theory. Members of our research team have been at the vanguard of efforts to apply modern psychometric techniques to the detection of bias in the measurement of cognitive function, yet, we recognize that this area of research is in its infancy. To achieve our goal of moving the field forward in this regard, our specific aims are to (1) Conduct 'basic psychometric science' research on differing methodological approaches to detecting biased test items, comparing IRT techniques that employ different estimation strategies; (2) Evaluate the extent that item bias attributable to race/ethnicity and educational attainment impact assessments of group differences in assessed cognitive status in three large general population surveys; and (3) Evaluate, among cognitively healthy older individuals, the extent that educational attainment influences individual items and overall ability estimates in (a) tasks of everyday cognitive functioning, and (b) neuropsychological performance (memory, reasoning ability, speed of processing). These aims will be accomplished by analyzing existing and publicly available data sets, or data sets available to the investigators (pending public release). This is an important area of research that will both examine the extent that mechanisms other than assessment bias explain group differences in assessed cognition among older adults, and inform efforts to develop education appropriate and culture-fair assessment tools.