J Korean Geriatr Psychiatry.  2004 Dec;8(2):107-112.

Item Analysis of the Mini-Memory Test in Elderly Psychiatric Patients

• Park JH
• Lee JH
• Mun BS

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
Analyses of the 24 items of the Mini-Memory Test (MiMeT) using the item response theory.
METHODS
Item difficulty and item discrimination of all items were evaluated with the 2-parametric logistic model in elderly psychiatric patients with memory impairment (n=332, 48.4%) and without (n=354, 51.6%). The BILOG 3 for Windows was employed for the analysis.
RESULTS
The mean item difficulty (+/-SD) was -0.878 (+/-1.176), with range of -3.299~0.902. The mean item discrimination (+/-SD) was -1.051(+/-0.392), ranging from 0.346 to 1.848. Discriminations of 19 items were above appropriate level and the delayed recall of short story items of the long-term memory had the highest discrimination.
CONCLUSION
All the MiMeT items were thought as having no problems as memory screening test in terms of difficulty and discrimination at the level of p<0.01.

Keyword

Memory; Item response theory; Discrimination

MeSH Terms

Aged*
Discrimination (Psychology)
Humans
Logistic Models
Mass Screening
Memory
Memory, Long-Term