Date of Conferral

2022

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Tracy Marsh

Abstract

Memory loss has been a concern in patients with neurodegenerative disease, as it can cause cognitive problems such as speech and language issues. Clinicians need to use reliable, assessable, noninvasive, repeatable, and inexpensive tools to diagnose memory impairment. There is a gap in the literature on whether specific cognitive tests provide valid, reliable, cost and time-effective methods for screening for dementia. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine if the Seashore, the Speech-Sound Perception Test, the SCAN-A test, Logical Memory, Verbal Paired Associates, and Digit Span Test can predict whether an individual has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Theory of mind served as the theoretical framework for this study, which used archival data from 157 individuals over age 30 years who were referred for a neuropsychological evaluation from 2015 to 2021 at private consulting psychology practice in a large urban area. Binary logistic regression was used to determine if scores on the Seashore, the Speech-Sound Perception Test, the SCAN-A test, Logical Memory, Verbal Paired Associates, and Digit Span Test were able to differentiate between those with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and those without. Results indicated that below standard SCAN-A test scores (less than 85) could significantly predict patients with an AD diagnosis regardless of age. In contrast, cases without AD demonstrated a strong association between score and age. This study can promote positive social change agendas by introducing more available tools and cognitive tests for diagnosing AD patients early in their disease.

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