Communication-related aspects of prospective memory: an exploratory factor analysis of prospective memory questionnaires.

Purpose: Prospective memory (PM) questionnaires are frequently used to evaluate perceptions of PM skills in daily life. This study aimed to systematically investigate communication-specific attributes using pre-existing PM self-rating questionnaires to inform clinicians and researchers about the role of PM in cognitive communicative evaluations.

Methods: PM-related items from three questionnaires (i.e., Prospective Memory Questionnaire, Comprehensive Assessment of Prospective Memory, and Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire) were compiled and embedded in Google Forms and distributed to 70 Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) with expertise in Cognitive Communicative Disorders across India. Participants first identified items related to communication, and were then contacted to rate the communication-related PM items using a Likert scale for their degree of appropriateness. Responses from 40 SLPs were obtained and subjected to item-content validity index (i-CVI) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA).

Results: Of the 114 PM items, 28 received ratings over 50% for their relevance to communication. Of the 28 items, 21 had an i-CVI score greater than 0.8. After the removal of overlapping content, 14 items were finalized and subjected to EFA, which resulted in four factors: PM failure due to loss of communicative content, PM failure due to loss of communicative intent, PM cost due to ongoing interference, and PM failure linked to the priority of communicative intent.

Conclusion: This study highlights communication-related aspects of PM that can be used as a framework for SLPs to assess and research PM skills.