title: Psychometric properties of the benton visual form discrimination test.
abstract: Coefficient alpha and an item analysis were calculated for the 16-item Benton Visual Form Discrimination Test (VFDT) using a heterogeneous sample (N = 293) of mostly elderly medical patients who were suspected of having cognitive impairment. The total score reliability was .74. An item analysis found that 15 of the items were within established criteria for item difficulty, however, 5 items were found to be poor discriminators. Through the use of confidence intervals around observed scores, it was shown that the current classification criterion for the VFDT demands a higher reliability coefficient than what was found. Also, evidence for the test's insufficient level of difficulty is presented. It is difficult to recommend this test for clinical use.
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Group/Behavioral Health Section,Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, Long Beach, California 90822, USA. michael.lopez@med.va.gov
authors.forename: Michael N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Lopez
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Charter
authors.forename: Sindy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Lazar
authors.forename: Shellah M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Imperio
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*