Validation of the Norwegian Version of Hayes Ability Screening Index for Mental Retardation

Abstract

The Hayes Ability Screening Index was developed primarily to provide a short, effective screening test to indicate possible mental retardation amongst persons who come in contact with the criminal justice system. This study examined the validity of a Norwegian version in a sample of 73 subjects. 45 were male and 28 were female (M = 33.3 yr, SD = 12.5; range = 17 to 60 years) consecutively selected from patients referred for neuropsychological examination. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III) was the criterion of validity. The correlation of .81 between scores on the WAIS-III and the Hayes Index was significant. At a stated cut-off score of 85, the sensitivity was 100% and specificity 57%. A suggested alternative cut-off score of 81 obtained a sensitivity of 95% and specificity of 72%. These results indicate that the Hayes Ability Screening Index is a useful, valid, and time-saving tool for screening of mental retardation for the Norwegian population.

Screening for intellectual disability in persons with a substance abuse problem: Exploring the validity of the Hayes Ability Screening Index in a Dutch-speaking sample

“…This finding is congruent with results from previous studies (Ford et al, 2008;Sondenaa et al, 2007Sondenaa et al, , 2008Sondenaa et al, , 2011. The correlation of 0.69 in this study lies within the range of results of previous studies using the WAIS-III as a criterion of validity: Sondenaa et al (2007) found a correlation of 0.81 in a psychiatric setting, whereas Ford et al (2008) found a correlation of 0.55 in an adolescent offender sample. This study found that the HASI correlated both significantly, but better with verbal IQs than the performance IQs from the WAIS-III, which is in line with the findings of Sondenaa et al (2007).…”

“…This finding is in contrast to the findings of Sondenaa et al (2007Sondenaa et al ( , 2008Sondenaa et al ( , 2011 and Ford et al (2008), who observed that with a higher cut-off score the HASI was too over-inclusive, and yielded a high number of false positives. They suggest lowering the cut-off score of 85 for better specificity.…”

“…The HASI also correlated significantly with the WASI (Sondenaa et al, 2008(Sondenaa et al, , 2011 and the WAIS-III (Ford et al, 2008;Sondenaa et al, 2007). Using the original HASI cut-off score of 85 (Hayes, 2002), previous research using a Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis have reported a sensitivity of 100% using the WAIS-III (Sondenaa et al, 2007) or WASI (Sondenaa et al, 2011) as a criterion validity and a specificity of 35.4% when using the WASI (Sondenaa et al, 2011), and 57% when using the WAIS-III (Sondenaa et al, 2007) …”

“…However, the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis with a HASI cut off score of 85 only presented a specificity of 65.2% and a sensitivity of 80%. In Norway, the instrument has been demonstrated to be valid in an offender as well as in a non-offender sample, but a lower cut-off value than the original cut-off value of 85 was SCREEN ID IN PERSONS WITH SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROBLEM 6 suggested (Sondenaa, Bjorgen, & Nottestad, 2007;Sondenaa, Nygard, Nottestad, & Linaker, 2011;Sondenaa, Rasmussen, Palmstierna, & Nottestad, 2008). In an offender sample of inmates of six prisons, Sondenaa and his colleagues (2008) For the Dutch language version of the HASI the validity has never been examined.…”

“…Ford et al, 2008;Hayes, 2002;McKenzie, Michie, Murray, & Hales, 2012;Sondenaa, Rasmussen, Palmstierna, & Nottestad, 2008) and/or the mental health system (MHS; e.g. Sondenaa, Bjorgen, & Nottestad, 2007;Sondenaa, Nygard, Nottestad, & Linaker, 2011).…”