COGNITIVE SCREENING OF NURSING-HOME RESIDENTS - FACTOR STRUCTURE OF THE MODIFIED MINI-MENTAL STATE (3MS) EXAMINATION

We examined factor structures of the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination in a sample of nursing home residents (N = 892; observation-to-variable ratio 59.5: 1). Using principal components analysis and orthogonal equamax rotation, a five-factor structure was derived. This solution, which explained 58.9% of the variance, consisted of the following factors: psychomotor skills, memory, identification and association, orientation, and concentration and calculation. This factor solution shows that, notwithstanding previous claims to the contrary, cognitive screening tests may be able to make stable and independent distinctions between psychomotor and perceptual-organizational processes. The factors derived map well onto commonly recognized dimensions of neurocognitive ability. The proposed five-factor solution offers a stable, intuitively sound, and statistically supported framework for differentiation of cognitive screening data into independent dimensions.