Clinicians’ Perspectives on the Validity of Neuropsychological Memory Tests for Use in Aotearoa New Zealand

Neuropsychological memory testing is vital in the assessment of neurological conditions but evidence suggests that cultural factors can significantly impact upon the validity of the scores obtained. The lack of normative data for different populations may lead to misleading scores/inappropriate diagnoses. The present study aimed to assess clinicians’ perspectives around the validity of memory tests for use in NZ. Clinicians (n = 76) across NZ answered an online survey assessing the perceived validity of memory tests within the domains of working memory, visual learning and retrieval, auditory learning and retrieval, and prospective and autobiographical memory. Several of the most commonly used tests with a large language component were judged as lacking validity amongst clinicians. Current findings provide further evidence that common neuropsychological tests may lack validity and that the development of NZ-normative data and/or NZ specific tests are now long overdue.