Screening Cognitive Performance With the Resident Assessment Instrument for Mental Health Cognitive Performance Scale

Objective: The validity of the Cognitive Performance Scale (CPS) embedded in the Resident Assessment Instrument-Mental Health (RAI-MH) was evaluated among adult psychiatric inpatients. Methods: The CPS is a brief measure of cognitive performance, with scores ranging from 0 (intact) to 6 (very severe impairment). The CPS scores were compared with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores for 215 adult psychiatric inpatients. Results: The CPS scores were significantly correlated with MMSE scores (r = -0.69, P < 0.001) and MoCA scores (r = -0.69, P < 0.001). Higher scores on the CPS were associated with greater functional impairment, older age, and a greater prevalence of dementia diagnoses than lower CPS scores. Conclusions: Pilot data show the CPS is a valid screening measure of cognitive performance among adult psychiatric inpatients. Additional research is needed to replicate our study using a larger sample with more diverse mental health conditions. Can J Psychiatry. 2010; 55(11): 736-740.