Procedures for successful data collection through psychological tests in the elderly

Abstract

Drawing on the experience of sampling and assessing thousands of elders, who dwell both in rural and urban areas, from all socio-economic strata, we present data collection procedures recommended to assess elderly populations. Based on International Test Commission's Guidelines (2010) for test translation and adaptation, we propose the administration of psychological tests to older adults in an interview format arguing that it is better suited for such population. We provide and discuss practical examples and common problems of data collection regarding: the need of adapting the translation to make cultural and psychological sense; the lack of familiarity of most elders with the psychological assessment setting and process; and, ethical concerns for this specifi c population. Keywords: Elderly, psychological assessment, protocol adaptation, International Test Commission, illiteracy. ResumoBaseados na experiência de seleção e avaliação de milhares de idosos residentes em meio rural e urbano, pertencentes aos diversos estratos socioeconómicos, apresentamos procedimentos de recolha de dados recomendáveis para esta população. Considerando as diretrizes de tradução e adaptação de testes da International Test Commission (2010), propomos a administração de testes psicológicos a idosos sob a forma de entrevista, argumentando que esta é a forma mais adequada. Apresentamos e discutimos exemplos práticos e problemas comuns relativos à recolha de dados, considerando: a necessidade de nas traduções ser atendido o signifi cado cultural e psicológico; a falta de familiaridade da maioria dos idosos com o cenário e o processo de avaliação psicológica; e, aspetos éticos vis-à-vis esta população. Palavras-chave: Idosos, avaliação psicológica, adaptação de protocolos, International Test Commission, analfabetismo.

Ética na Avaliação Psicológica: Velhas Questões, Novas Reflexões

“…A busca resgatou 1.496 artigos, mas por meio da leitura dos resumos e palavras-chave, somente em 14 trabalhos foi identificado algum debate entre avaliação psicológica e ética. Desses, seis discutem sobre as novas tecnologias para avaliação e intervenção em Psicologia (Duncan, Velasquez, & Nelson, 2014;Fromberger, Jordan, & Müller, 2018;Luxton, 2014;Luxton, Pruitt, & Osenbach, 2014;Mueller, & Piper, 2014;Prentice, & Dobson, 2014), dois sobre a importância de psicólogos serem treinados para realizar avaliação psicológica (Evans, & Finn, 2016;Ready, & Veague, 2014), um sobre candidatos a cirurgia bariátrica (Rouleau, Rash, & Mothersill, 2016), um sobre coleta de dados com a população idosa (Diniz, & Amado, 2014), um sobre avaliação em contextos multiculturais e com poucos recursos (Laher, & Cockcroft, 2017), um sobre a população surda (Boness, 2016), um sobre dificuldades da atuação do psicólogo (Hazboun, & Alchieri, 2014) e um sobre processos éticos julgados no CFP (Zaia, Oliveira, & Nakano, 2018).…”

Strength of Religious Faith in the Portuguese Catholic Elderly

“…Following the International Test Commission guidelines, the SCSRFQ-Brief Version was translated and adapted to Portuguese, with resource to bilingual translators and back-translation, while taking into account the cultural and social characteristics of the elderly (Amado, 2008). Following the recommendations of Diniz and Amado (2014), the final version was tested with three women and three men, of high as well as low socio-economic strata, using a thinking-aloud procedure. A cross-sectional study with this instrument was made through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with a non-probabilistic sample of Catholics (N = 807; age-range = 65-97 years; 66% of women; 40.8% non-practitioners; Amado & Diniz, 2008).…”

“…The attribution of a cut-off point or chronological age marker between the third and the fourth-age, or between the young-old and the old-old, should be made acknowledging the dynamic nature of aging and the historical-cultural context of the population under study (Baltes & Smith, 2003). Given the demographic and historical context of the Portuguese elderly (Diniz & Amado, 2014), whose lack of resources limits the possibilities to compensate for "age-related losses" (Baltes, 1997), we opted to differentiate between a group of young-olds (65-74 years of age) and old-olds (75 and up).…”

Barriers to and Facilitators of Older Adult's Adherence to Health Recommendations

“…The RC is related to the number of prescribed medications and it has a negative impact on MA, particularly in elderly patients, who on average receive more prescriptions than other age groups. This is an important issue because the elderly tend to be more vulnerable to cognitive deficits and seem to be less capable in decision-making processes based on information that requires in-depth analysis (Finucane & Lees, 2005; see also Diniz & Amado, 2014). Cooper et al (2005) showed that the cognitive decline by itself does not decrease adherence but together with a resistance to care, may decrease adherence.…”