title: Construct validity of the item-specific deficit approach to the California verbal learning test (2nd Ed) in HIV infection.
abstract: Impairment in list learning and recall is prevalent in HIV-infected individuals and is strongly predictive of everyday functioning outcomes. Consistent with its predominant frontostriatal pathology, the memory profile associated with HIV infection is best characterized as a mixed encoding/retrieval profile. The Item-Specific Deficit Approach (ISDA) was developed by Wright et al. (2009) to elicit indices of Encoding, Consolidation, and Retrieval from the well-validated California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT; Delis, Kramer, Kaplan, & Ober, 1987, 2000). The current study evaluated construct validity of the ISDA for the CVLT-II in 40 persons with HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HIV+/HAND+), 103 HIV-infected persons without HAND (HIV+/HAND-), and 43 seronegative comparison participants (HIV-). Results provided mixed support for the construct validity of ISDA indices. HIV+/HAND+ individuals performed significantly more poorly than persons in the HIV+/HAND- and HIV- groups on ISDA Encoding, Consolidation, and Retrieval deficit indices, which demonstrated adequate classification accuracy for diagnosing HIV+/HAND+ participants and evidence of both convergent (e.g., episodic memory) and divergent (e.g., motor skills) correlations in the HIV+/HAND+ participants. However, highly intercorrelated ISDA indices and traditional CVLT-II measures showed comparable between-groups effect sizes, classification accuracy, and correlations to other memory tests, thereby raising uncertainties about the incremental value of the ISDA approach in clinical neuroAIDS research.
authors.affiliation: Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego State University and University of California, San Diego, CA 92103, USA.
authors.forename: Jordan E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Cattie
authors.forename: Steven Paul
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Woods
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arce
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Dean C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Delis
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Grant
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003071:Cognition; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D014706:Verbal Learning