The Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status-modified (TICS-M) is a well-established and widely used screening instrument for dementia and assessment of global cognitive function in older people. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the TICS-M and to enhance the accuracy of the instrument using Rasch methodology. Partial Credit Rasch model was applied to the TICS-M scores. The sample selected for Rasch analysis consisted of 432 participants aged 70-90 years (M = 78.85, SD = 4.73) including 195 males (237 females), and 132 (30.56%) of whom were diagnosed with dementia after the baseline assessment. Initial analysis indicated good reliability of the TICS-M assessment scores, but there were three misfitting items and local dependency issues. Combining locally dependent and misfitting items into super-items achieved the best Rasch model fit for the TICS-M. This modification improved reliability of the assessment scores and resulted in no misfitting items, no local dependency, strict unidimensionality, and invariance across individual factors such as participants age, sex, diagnosis, and in-person neuropsychological assessment scores. Satisfying Rasch model expectations allowed for creation of a transformation table to convert raw TICS-M scores into interval-level data, which improves precision of the instrument. In summary, the TICS-M assessment scores demonstrated excellent reliability as reflected by Person Separation Index (PSI = 0.86) and met expectations of the unidimensional Rasch model after minor adjustments. The ordinal-to-interval transformation table can be used to increase accuracy of the TICS-M without altering its current format. These findings contribute to more accurate assessments of cognitive decline in older people and screening for conditions such as dementia. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

---

使用 Rasch 模型提高认知状态修改电话访谈 (TICS-M) 的精度。

认知状态改良电话访谈 (TICS-M) 是一种成熟且广泛使用的痴呆症筛查工具和老年人整体认知功能评估工具。本研究旨在评估 TICS-M 的心理测量特性，并使用 Rasch 方法提高仪器的准确性。部分信用 Rasch 模型应用于 TICS-M 分数。选择进行Rasch分析的样本包括432名年龄70-90岁的参与者（M = 78.85，SD = 4.73），其中包括195名男性（237名女性），其中132名（30.56％）在基线评估后被诊断为痴呆症。初步分析表明 TICS-M 评估分数具有良好的可靠性，但存在三个不适合的项目和局部依赖性问题。将局部依赖项和不拟合项组合成超级项，实现了最适合 TICS-M 的 Rasch 模型。这种修改提高了评估分数的可靠性，并且没有不合适的项目、没有局部依赖性、严格的一维性以及参与者年龄、性别、诊断和面对面神经心理学评估分数等个体因素的不变性。满足 Rasch 模型期望允许创建转换表，将原始 TICS-M 分数转换为区间级数据，从而提高仪器的精度。综上所述，人员分离指数（PSI = 0.86）反映的 TICS-M 评估分数表现出优异的可靠性，并在小幅调整后满足一维 Rasch 模型的预期。序数到区间转换表可用于提高 TICS-M 的准确性，而无需改变其当前格式。这些发现有助于更准确地评估老年人的认知能力下降以及筛查痴呆症等疾病。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2023 APA，保留所有权利）。