Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T15:32:28.419Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Assessing subjective memory complaints: a comparison of spontaneous reports and structured questionnaire methods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2014

Bridget Burmester ,
Janet Leathem  and
Paul Merrick
Bridget Burmester*
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Massey University, PO Box 756, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
Janet Leathem
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Massey University, PO Box 756, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
Paul Merrick
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Massey University, Private Bag 102 904, Auckland 0745, New Zealand
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Bridget Burmester, Psychology Clinic, Massey University, PO Box 756, Wellington 6140, New Zealand. Phone: +64-4-801-0492; Fax: +64-4-801-0493. Email: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background:

Subjective memory complaints (SMCs) are a common occurrence for adults, which increase with age, and cause considerable distress. Traditionally SMCs have been assessed by either questionnaires, which ask whether a person has experienced given examples of SMCs, or open-ended questions which elicit spontaneous reports of SMCs. However, little is known about how these methods of assessment might influence reporting of SMCs.

Methods:

Four hundred and twenty one adults aged 40 years and above were surveyed about SMCs using spontaneous report and questionnaire methods.

Results:

As expected, spontaneously reported SMCs were fewer in number and rated more distressing overall than SMCs endorsed on a questionnaire. However, comparison of individual SMCs revealed that distress ratings tended to be higher when assessed in a questionnaire than spontaneously reported, which may be due to the context of a questionnaire causing inflated ratings. Participants also reported SMCs which were not well assessed by the questionnaire, including some which were among the most distressing SMCs overall. Conversely, other SMCs were over-sampled by the questionnaire and did not feature in spontaneous reports.

Conclusions:

Implications for clinical assessment of SMCs are that open-ended questioning might be preferable to initial use of prescriptive questionnaires, in order to elicit SMCs that are most distressing. While use of questionnaires may reveal endorsement of a wider range of SMCs than are spontaneously reported, they can take focus away from, or even fail to assess, those SMCs which cause most subjective distress (and therefore should be the target of interventions).

Keywords

subjective memory complaintsagingassessmentdistress
Type
Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , January 2015 , pp. 61 - 77
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abdulrab, K. and Heun, R. (2008). Subjective memory impairment: a review of its definitions indicates the need for a comprehensive set of standardised and validated criteria. European Psychiatry, 23, 321–330. doi:10.1016/j.eurpsy.2008.02.004 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Amariglio, R. E., Townsend, M. K., Grodstein, F., Sperling, R. A. and Rentz, D. M. (2011). Specific subjective memory complaints in older persons may indicate poor cognitive function. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 59, 1612–1617. doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2011.03543.x Google Scholar
Apolinario, D. et al. (2013). Characterizing spontaneously reported cognitive complaints: the development and reliability of a classification instrument. International Psychogeriatrics, 25, 157–166. doi:10.1017/S1041610212001494 Google Scholar
Bassett, S. S. and Folstein, M. F. (1993). Memory complaint, memory performance, and psychiatric diagnosis: a community study. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, 6, 105–111. doi:10.1177/089198879300600207 Google Scholar
Begum, A., Morgan, C., Chiu, C-C., Tylee, A. and Stewart, R. (2012). Subjective memory impairment in older adults: aetiology, salience and help seeking. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 27, 612–620. doi:10.1002/gps.2760 Google Scholar
Broadbent, D. E., Cooper, P. F., FitzGerald, P. and Parkes, K. R. (1982). The Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) and its correlates. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 21, 1–16. doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1982.tb01421.x CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crook, T. H., Feher, E. P. and Larrabee, G. J. (1992). Assessment of memory complaint in age-associated memory impairment: the MAC-Q. International Psychogeriatrics, 4, 165–176. doi: 10.1017/S1041610292000991 Google Scholar
Geerlings, M. I., Jonker, C., Bouter, L. M., Adèr, H. J. and Schmand, B. (1999). Association between memory complaints and incident Alzheimer's disease in elderly people with normal baseline cognition. American Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 531–537.Google Scholar
Gilewski, M. J., Zelinski, E. M. and Schaie, K. W. (1990). The Memory Functioning Questionnaire for assessment of memory complaints in adulthood and old age. Psychology and Aging, 5, 482–490.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ginó, S., et al. (2010). Memory complaints are frequent but qualitatively different in young and elderly healthy people. Gerontology, 56, 272–277. doi:10.1159/000240048 Google Scholar
Holm, S. (1979). A simple sequentially rejective multiple test procedure. Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, 6, 65–70.Google Scholar
Hurt, C. S., Burns, A., Brown, R. G. and Barrowclough, C. (2010). Perceptions of subjective memory complaint in older adults: the Illness Perception Questionnaire – Memory (IPQ-M). International Psychogeriatrics, 22, 750–760. doi:10.1017/S1041610209991542 Google Scholar
Jonker, C., Geerlings, M. I. and Schmand, B. (2000). Are memory complaints predictive for dementia? A review of clinical and population-based studies. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 15, 983–991. doi:10.1002/1099–1166(200011)15:11<983::AID-GPS238>3.0.CO;2–5Google Scholar
Jonker, C., Launer, L. J., Hooijer, C. and Lindeboom, J. (1996). Memory complaints and memory impairment in older individuals. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 44, 44–49.Google Scholar
Jorm, A. F., Christensen, H., Korten, A. E., Jacomb, P. A. and Henderson, A. S. (2001). Memory complaints as a precursor of memory impairment in older people: a longitudinal analysis over 7–8 years. Psychological Medicine, 31, 441–449.Google Scholar
Jungwirth, S., Fischer, P., Weissgram, S., Kirchmeyer, W., Bauer, P. and Tragl, K.-H. (2004). Subjective memory complaints and objective memory impairment in the Vienna-Transdanube aging community. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 52, 263–268. doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2004.52066.x Google Scholar
Krippendorff, K. (2013). Content Analysis: An Introduction to its Metholodogy, 3rd edn. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Mattos, P., Lino, V., Rizo, L., Alfano, A., Araújo, C. and Raggio, R. (2003). Memory complaints and test performance in healthy elderly persons. Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, 61, 920–924. doi:10.1590/S0004-282×200300600006 Google Scholar
Mol, M., Carpay, M., Ramakers, I., Rozendall, N., Verhey, F. and Jolles, J. (2007). The effect of perceived forgetfulness on quality of life in older adults: a qualitative review. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 22, 393–400. doi:10.1002/gps.1686 Google Scholar
Montejo, P., Montenegro, M., Fernández, M. A. and Maestú, F. (2012). Memory complaints in the elderly: quality of life and daily living activities. A population based study. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 54, 298–304. doi:10.1016/j.archger.2011.05.021 Google Scholar
Newson, R. S. and Kemps, E. B. (2006). The nature of subjective cognitive complaints of older adults. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 63, 139–151. doi:10.2190/1EAP-FE20-PDWY-M6P1 Google Scholar
Ponds, R. W. H. M., Van Boxtel, M. P. J. and Jolles, J. (2000). Age-related changes in subjective cognitive functioning. Educational Gerontology, 26, 67–81. doi:10.1080/036012700267402 Google Scholar
Reid, L. M. and MacLullich, A. M. J. (2006). Subjective memory complaints and cognitive impairment in older people. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 22, 471–488. doi:10.1159/000096295 Google Scholar
Smith, G., Del Sala, S., Logie, R. H. and Maylor, E. A. (2000). Prospective and retrospective memory in normal ageing and dementia: a questionnaire study. Memory, 8, 311–321.Google Scholar
Smith, G. E., Petersen, R. C., Ivnik, R. J., Malec, J. F. and Tangalos, E. G. (1996). Subjective memory complaints, psychological distress, and longitudinal change in objective memory performance. Psychology and Aging, 11, 272–279. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.11.2.272 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Squire, L. R., Wetzel, C. D. and Slater, P. C. (1979). Memory complaint after electroconvulsive therapy: assessment with a new self-rating instrument. Biological Psychiatry, 14, 791–801.Google Scholar
Sunderland, A., Harris, J. E. and Baddeley, A. D. (1983). Do laboratory tests predict everyday memory? A neuropsychological study. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 22, 341–357. doi: 10.1016/S0022-5371(83)90229-3 Google Scholar
Troyer, A. K. and Rich, J. B. (2002). Psychometric properties of a new metamemory questionnaire for older adults. Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences, 57, 19–27. doi:10.1093/geronb/57.1.P19 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilkinson, S. (2000). Women with breast cancer talking causes: comparing content, biographical and discursive analyses. Feminism and Psychology, 10, 431–460. doi: 10.1177/0959353500010004003 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Youn, J. C., et al. (2009). Development of the Subjective Memory Complaints Questionnaire. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 27, 310–317. doi:10.1159/000205512 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed