OBJECTIVE:This exploratory study examined relationships between predisposing factors (age, pre-morbid medical conditions, educational attainment), COVID-19 disease severity indicators (hospitalization status, symptom burden, symptom duration), and self-reported cognitive complaints and emotional symptoms in Puerto Rican adults with prior COVID-19. METHOD:Fifty-nine Puerto Rican adults (71.2% female; M age = 39.27 years, SD = 12.21) with a confirmed history of COVID-19 completed an investigator-developed sociodemographic questionnaire, the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI), and the Neuro-QoL v2.0 Cognitive Function-Short Form Spanish via an online platform. Non-parametric analyses included Spearman correlations, Mann-Whitney U tests, and Kruskal-Wallis tests with effect sizes. A sensitivity power analysis estimated the smallest detectable effects. RESULTS:Symptom burden was the strongest correlate of self-reported cognitive and emotional symptoms, correlating positively with NSI Total (rho = 0.651, p < .001) and NSI Affective (rho = 0.637, p < .001) scores, and negatively with Neuro-QoL (rho = -0.329, p = .011). Pre-morbid conditions were associated with worse NSI Total (rho = 0.298, p = .022) and NSI Cognitive (rho = 0.344, p = .008). Age and education showed no significant associations. Cognitive complaints were strongly associated with emotional symptoms, holding across instruments and after adjusting for symptom burden. Hospitalization comparisons showed small-to-medium but nonsignificant effects, inconclusive given the small hospitalized subgroup. CONCLUSIONS:In this Puerto Rican sample, COVID-19 symptom burden and pre-morbid health status were the primary correlates of cognitive difficulties, which were closely intertwined with emotional symptoms. These exploratory findings offer preliminary empirical evidence to inform future research in Puerto Rico.

This study examined the base rate of invalid performance among active-duty military service members (SMs) with blast exposure on neuropsychological testing and whether these rates differ between blast-only and blast+PTSD groups. Retrospective analysis of a large military dataset (N=1,010) referred for outpatient neuropsychological evaluations following deployment was conducted (Puente et al., 2020). After removing duplicates, 880 distinct individuals remained, with 546 reporting blast exposure. Invalid performance was defined as failing ≥2 performance validity tests (PVTs). Excluding SMs with fewer than four PVTs (n=492), the final sample included Blast Only (n=187) and Blast+PTSD (n=305). Most were male (98.37%) and White (85.55%), with a mean age of 25.85 years and 12.47 years of education. Invalid performance rates were 10.2% (19/187, 95% CI [6.6–15.2]) in Blast Only, 11.8% (36/305, 95% CI [8.6–15.9]) in Blast+PTSD, and 11.6% (57/492, 95% CI [9.0–14.7]) overall. A chi-square analysis indicated no significant difference (χ2[1]=0.037, p=.847). Overall rate (11.6%) is consistent with prior research in SMs receiving routine care (12.8%) but differs from other studies, including SMs, likely due to differences in methodology and evaluation context, e.g., clinical vs. disability (32-50%;Denning & Shura, 2019). Consistent with prior research (Jones et al., 2012), comorbid PTSD did not significantly increase invalid performance rates compared to blast exposure alone, suggesting factors may be more relevant to performance validity in this population. Limitations include the retrospective design and predominantly male sample. Future research should explore additional factors like time since injury, medication effects, and other comorbidities that may influence performance validity in military populations.

OBJECTIVE:The Houston Conference Guidelines (Hannay et al., 1998) provided an initial framework for North American neuropsychology training that served the specialty well for several decades. Subsequent advances in technology, increased diversity of the U.S. and Canadian populations, and the adoption of competency-based training models within Health Service Psychology have created a need to update neuropsychology training guidelines. Therefore, in 2022, the Minnesota Conference to Update Education and Training Guidelines in Clinical Neuropsychology began a two-year drafting process leading to the currently proposed update. METHOD:A Steering Committee worked with content experts, consultants, and delegates representing North American neuropsychological organizations and specialists. The final version of the guidelines was developed after reviewing neuropsychological training literature, gathering feedback from specialists, and making iterative revisions of earlier drafts to reach consensus. CONCLUSION:The resulting "Minnesota Guidelines" include five foundational (Neuroscience and Brain Behavior Relationships; Integration of Science and Practice; Ethics, Standards, Laws, and Policies; Diversity; and Professional Relationships) and eight functional (Assessment; Intervention; Interdisciplinary Systems and Consultation; Research and Scholarship; Technology and Innovation; Teaching, Supervision, and Mentoring; Health and Professional Advocacy; and Administration, Management, and Business) areas of competency required for entry level specialty practice. While consensus was not achieved, a majority of voting delegates recommended the Guidelines for adoption and the Guidelines have been endorsed by six neuropsychology education and board certification organizations. The American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology has not endorsed the Minnesota Guidelines and will not make an endorsement decision until three months after online publication.

Abstract Objective Using the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM), this study seeks to explore the feasibility of a continuous approach to performance validity by simulating experiments using a Bayesian statistical algorithm. Methodology A literature review was carried out to conduct statistical analyses from data of two known groups (those putting forth credible effort and those not). TOMM scores were modeled using various statistical distributions, with the inflated Conway-Maxwell-Poisson (ICMP) distribution providing the best fit. Simulation experiments were conducted to test the Bayesian statistics model. This involved generating artificial data from known distributions and then seeing how well the algorithm could recover the probability of a score belonging to the credible effort group. We tested the algorithm’s robustness by intentionally starting with incorrect assumptions and seeing if it could still converge on the correct probabilities. Finally, the Bayesian model was applied to real TOMM data to estimate the probability of credible effort for each possible score. Results The simulation studies showed that the Bayesian approach was generally robust, even when starting with incorrect assumptions. When applied to real data, TOMM scores of 40, 45, and 50 were essential, with approximately 5% change occurring with each score. A score of 40 covers approximately 50% of scores, 45 covers approximately 75%, and, finally, 50 covers 95% of scores. A perfect score of 50 encompassed ~95% of credible performances but not 100%. Conclusion This study provides initial statistically derived evidence for the feasibility and potential value of a continuous, probabilistic approach to performance validity.

Neuropsychologists use performance validity tests (PVT) to detect performance invalidity across various populations. Unexpected scores for normative and clinical populations on PVT performance could invalidate the assessment if the poor performance does not have a reasonable explanation. One of the most well-validated and frequently used PVT is the Test of Memory Malingering, whose usefulness has been analyzed in various populations, including the military. Studies on the influence of demographic variables and blast exposure on the performance of military samples have yielded inconclusive results. The current study investigates the influence of age, education, and blast exposure on the TOMM Trial 2 in a military sample that is representative of their demographics. The total sample size was 872 participants between 18-62 years of age (M = 26.35, SD = 6.63), divided into 832 males and 40 females. All participants were on active duty, and they had been deployed in war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq. They were referred to Carolina Psychological Health Services from the Naval Hospital of Camp LeJeune for psychological and/or neurological complaints, such as cognitive difficulties. The results show that age, education, and blast exposure variations do not affect TOMM performance. Further studies on the relationship between these variables should be pursued to elucidate how they are associated with the normative or clinical cognitive functioning of military populations.

Globalization is making our world increasingly diverse. However, the field of neuropsychological assessment hasn’t addressed this diversity appropriately and people around the world are being assessed with instruments that are not culturally adapted for them. Practitioners are using tests that were originally created for Western culture(s) to evaluate patients of all demographic backgrounds. The solution is the development of computerized cross-cultural tests, but there is no established standard procedure for creating a battery that is comprehensive, modular, psychometrically robust, easy to use, free, and culturally salient. The EMBRACED battery is intended to be exactly that. The protocol for its development followed strict, evidence-based scientific methods for the determination of all its neuropsychological domains, their relevant constructs, and the best tasks to measure them; the tasks and stimuli are also computerized. The EMBRACED battery is user-friendly, cost-effective, and patient-guided. The preliminary results obtained to date show that culture has a significant effect on neuropsychological test performance, with bias in favor of Western populations. Our field has an ethical responsibility to improve our instruments, increase fairness in testing, and to fight for social justice around the world, which is precisely the aim of the EMBRACED project.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in psychological sequelae in different populations, especially female victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) who are pregnant. Nonetheless, little is known about how IPV events and pregnancy are related to mental health outcomes for pregnant women during the pandemic, when this research took place. 155 pregnant women (82 primigravidas and 73 multigravidas women) were assessed using questionnaires for mental health status and IPV events. The results showed that primigravida women were less likely to experience intimate partner violence than multigravida women. Further, first time pregnancy was not related to symptoms of psychopathology nor perceived stress, even after controlling for the potential effect of IPV. In contrast, IPV was related to all measures of psychopathology, except for pregnancy-specific stress. The results provide information about the relationship of IPV, pregnancy and psychopathology during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, due to the study design (part of awider study), it is not yet possible to examine how IPV patterns with respect to pregnancy may have changed in response to the pandemic. In light of the relationship between IPV and mental health during the pandemic, assessment of IPV appears to be an important component in health assessments of pregnant women.

Presents an obituary for Janet Rogers Matthews (1944-2019). Janet was a tenured psychology faculty at Creighton University before joining the Department of Psychology of Loyola University New Orleans. She remained on their faculty for 30 years, until 2014, when she became professor emerita. Janet described herself as "an APA junky." She served on the Board of Directors of the American Psychological Association (APA); the APA's Council of Representatives; and approximately 50 different boards, committees, and task forces of the association. She was a Fellow of nine divisions of APA (Divisions 1, 2, 12, 29, 31, 35, 40, 32, and 52), as well as president of Divisions 2 and 31. In addition, she served on the American Board of Assessment Psychology. She was very active in the Southwestern Psychological Association, where she also served as its president. Janet's legacy is as a mentor and teacher. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

espanolObjetivos: el Comite de Practica Inter Organizacional (IOPC) convoco a un grupo de trabajo para brindar una guia rapida sobre teleneuropsicologia (TeleNP) en respuesta a la pandemia de COVID-19. Metodos: un panel colaborativo de expertos de las principales organizaciones profesionales de USA desarrollo una guia provisional para la practica de neuropsicologia clinica durante la pandemia. Dicho panel incluyo la Academia Americana de Neuropsicologia Clinica/Junta Americana de Neuropsicologia Clinica, la Academia Nacional de Neuropsicologia, la Division 40 de la Asociacion Americana de Psicologia, la Junta Americana de Neuropsicologia Profesional y la Asociacion Americana de Servicios de Psicologia. El grupo hizo una revision de la literatura disponible, recopilo las regulaciones federales, regionales y estatales, informacion de las aseguradoras y encuesto a los profesionales para identificar las mejores practicas para la TeleNP. Resultados: la literatura indica que la TeleNP puede ofrecer evaluaciones confiables y validas. Sin embargo, los clinicos deben tener en cuenta sus limitaciones, desarrollar nuevos procedimientos de consentimiento informado, reportar las modificaciones que realicen a los procedimientos estandarizados y establecer limitaciones a las conclusiones diagnosticas y recomendaciones. Limitaciones especificas afectan las evaluaciones de TeleNP en poblacion adulta mayor, ninos pequenos, personas con acceso limitado a la tecnologia y personas de contextos culturales y/o linguisticos diversos. La TeleNP puede no ser recomendada o derechamente inviable dependiendo de las caracteristicas especificas del paciente, las circunstancias y el motivo de derivacion. Se ofrecen consideraciones para la facturacion de los servicios de TeleNP con la observacion de que cada clinico verifique los procedimientos de manera independiente. Adicionalmente, se proporciona orientacion sobre aspectos tecnicos y consejos para los procedimientos de TeleNP. Conclusiones: este documento ofrece una guia provisional con enlaces a recursos y pautas establecidas para la telepsicologia. Las recomendaciones especificas se extienden para la practica de la TeleNP. Estas recomendaciones pueden ser revisadas conforme evolucionen las circunstancias mediante actualizaciones publicadas continuamente en OPC.online. EnglishObjective: The Inter Organizational Practice Committee (IOPC) convened a workgroup to provide rapid guidance about teleneuropsychology (TeleNP) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: A collaborative panel of experts from major professional organizations developed provisional guidance for neuropsychological practice during the pandemic. The stakeholders included the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology/American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology, the National Academy of Neuropsychology, Division 40 of the American Psychological Association, the American Board of Professional Neuropsychology, and the American Psychological Association Services, Inc. The group reviewed literature, collated federal, regional and state regulations and information from insurers, and surveyed practitioners to identify best practices. Results: Literature indicates that TeleNP may offer reliable and valid assessments, but clinicians need to consider limitations, develop new informed consent procedures, report modifications of standard procedures, and state limitations to diagnostic conclusions and recommendations. Specific limitations affect TeleNP assessments of older adults, younger children, individuals with limited access to technology, and individuals with other individual, cultural, and/or linguistic differences. TeleNP may be contraindicated or infeasible given specific patient characteristics, circumstances, and referral questions. Considerations for billing TeleNP services are offered with reservations that clinicians must verify procedures independently. Guidance about technical issues and “tips” for TeleNP procedures are provided. Conclusion: This document provides provisional guidance with links to resources and established guidelines for telepsychology. Specific recommendations extend these practices to TeleNP. These recommendations may be revised as circumstances evolve, with updates posted continuously at OPC.online.

Abstract Despite the clear and compelling association between social connections and well-being, the underlying mechanisms that help stave off adverse health impacts are not well understood, particularly among older adults in disadvantaged groups. Social relationships in older age may be instrumental for exchanging and gaining knowledge that further influence health and help increase awareness about misconceptions and lifestyle behaviors known to delay or reduce cognitive decline. This study used cross-sectional survey data from 147(aged 58-90 years; 75% female) low-income African American homebound community dwellers to investigate heterogeneity in dementia literacy profiles and its association with social connectedness. Eleven items (false=0, true=1, don’t know=2) from a validated instrument were used to measure dementia literacy (DL). The Lubben’s social network scale was used for a social connectedness construct. We employed a 2-stage latent class modeling approach to examine heterogeneity in DL and estimate the regressions among the derived classes and the predictors (social connectedness, education level and age). A 3-class model produced a reasonable fit and classification (entropy=0.852) of “dementia literacy patterns” labeled as (high-literacy:37%), moderate-literacy:45.2%), low-literacy:17.8%)). Social connectedness was highly predictive of class membership. A high level of social relationships increased the probability of being in the “high-dementia-literacy” class compared to the “low-dementia-literacy” class (OR=2.189, p=0.016). For a unit increase in social connectedness, the odds of being in the “high-dementia-literacy” class compared to the “low-dementia-literacy” class increased by a factor of 2.2. Tailored and focused interventions to reduce social disconnectedness may also help increase dementia awareness and reduce barriers to early diagnosis.

OBJECTIVE:The Inter Organizational Practice Committee convened a workgroup to provide rapid guidance about teleneuropsychology (TeleNP) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.METHOD:A collaborative panel of experts from major professional organizations developed provisional guidance for neuropsychological practice during the pandemic. The stakeholders included the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology/American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology, the National Academy of Neuropsychology, Division 40 of the American Psychological Association, the American Board of Professional Neuropsychology, and the American Psychological Association Services, Inc. The group reviewed literature; collated federal, regional, and state regulations and information from insurers; and surveyed practitioners to identify best practices.RESULTS:Literature indicates that TeleNP may offer reliable and valid assessments, but clinicians need to consider limitations, develop new informed consent procedures, report modifications of standard procedures, and state limitations to diagnostic conclusions and recommendations. Specific limitations affect TeleNP assessments of older adults, younger children, individuals with limited access to technology, and individuals with other individual, cultural, and/or linguistic differences. TeleNP may be contraindicated or infeasible given specific patient characteristics, circumstances, and referral questions. Considerations for billing TeleNP services are offered with reservations that clinicians must verify procedures independently. Guidance about technical issues and "tips" for TeleNP procedures are provided.CONCLUSION:This document provides provisional guidance with links to resources and established guidelines for telepsychology. Specific recommendations extend these practices to TeleNP. These recommendations may be revised as circumstances evolve, with updates posted continuously at IOPC.online.

OBJECTIVE:The Russian-speaking population is among the largest European-born in the U.S., yet Russian-American cross-cultural research is scarce. Two studies compared neuropsychological test performance in Russian and American urban adults. However, rural populations of the two nations have never been compared. Cross-cultural neuropsychological differences in rural populations might present differently than in urban dwellers. The present study provides a cross-sectional comparison of neuropsychological test performance in Russian and American rural adults.METHODS:Neuropsychological test performance of 51 American (67% female) and 52 Russian (60% female) healthy rural adults age 18-89 was compared using t-test with Bonferroni correction for education-adjusted z-scores for the following tests: Rey Complex Figure Test (RCFT), Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), Trail Making Test A and B (TMT A&B), Stroop Neuropsychological Screening Test, Benton Judgment of Line Orientation Test (JLO), Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R), Color Trails Test 1 and 2 (CTT 1&2), WMS-IV Logical Memory Test (LMT), WAIS-IV Digit Span Forward (DSF) and Backward Test (DSB), and Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT).RESULTS:Age and sex distribution did not differ in the two groups, but the Russian group was more highly educated. The American group outperformed the Russian group on TMT B, CTT 2, recognition trials of RCFT, BVMT-R, LMT, and on DSF.CONCLUSIONS:Cultural differences in attitudes to timed activities, experience with timed tests and multiple-choice format, attention to details, and length of digit-words that put differential demand on short-term memory in Russian and in English may mediate observed between-group differences.

With over 6,000 languages spoken in the world (Crystal, 1987), acknowledging linguistic and cultural variables is imperative as they impact the understanding of psychological functions. Individually, these variables represent intricate mechanisms, and complexity becomes greater when both culture and language are coalesced and studied together. To meet the growing demands of the current, heterogeneous population, the integration of diverse thoughts, ideas, and individuals is essential. However, it is necessary to continue understanding individuals in micro-levels especially in situations where confounding variables may exist, while also appreciating the universal factors that appear to cut across all cultures. In attempt to recognize both universal and linguistic variables, language represents a difficult meta-construct to decipher. This entry focuses on understanding linguistic variables in psychological constructs from the standpoint of monolingualism, bilingualism and multilingualism, especially as they pertain to cultural contexts.

BackgroundIt had been seven months since the first confirmed case (8th March, 2020) of COVID-19 in Bangladesh and people have now got a more complete picture of the extent of the pandemic. Therefore, it is time to evaluate the effects of COVID-19 on mental health. The current population-based study aimed to assess the prevalence of depression and PTSD of the quarantined people in Bangladesh during COVID-19 outbreak.MethodsA total of 5792 individuals comprised the population of this study. Subjects were respondents to an online questionnaire that was administered through social media. The questionnaire included questions on personal information, quarantine related knowledge, items of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies–Depression (CES-D) scale. Data were collected and analyzed by regression utilizing a using IBM SPSS-22 (Statistical Package for Social Science, Chicago, IL, USA).ResultsThe most post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms had on the male (n = 1392, 75.7%) who had institutional quarantine. The most depression symptoms were on the female (n = 920, 72.8%) whose income was more than 75000 takas in Bangladeshi currency. 81.8% of respondents had PTSD and their scores ≥24 in the IES-R scale. On the other hand, the respondent's income was 40000–74999 takas in Bangladesh currency had more PTSD symptoms and the odd ratio 19.3 (95% CI: 12.5–27.3), adjusted odds ratio 22.9 (95% CI: 15.6–32.4), after adjusting all personal variables. 85.9% respondents scored 16 ≤ in the CES-D scale, meaning they were depressed. The respondents whose education level grade 10 were most depressed and the odd ratio of 3.8 (95% CI: 3.1–4.65), adjusted odds ratio of 13.19 (95% CI: 9.88–17.62) after adjusting all personal variables.ConclusionsThe prevalence of depression and PTSD of the quarantined people higher than that of the affected group during the outbreak of COVID-19 in Bangladesh. If the administration and health care workers become conscious of such results, actions and policies can be taken to improve the consequential sufferings.