Mini-SEA: Validity and Normative Data for the French-Quebec Population Aged 50 Years and Above.

Objective: The mini Social cognition & Emotional Assessment (mini-SEA) is a social cognition battery which assesses theory of mind and emotion recognition. Currently, no psychometrically validated measure of social cognition with adapted normative data exists for the middle-aged and elderly French-Quebec population. This project aims to determine the known-group discriminant validity of a cultural and linguistic adaptation of the mini-SEA between cognitively healthy people, those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or living with Alzheimer's Disease (AD). This study also aims to examine the stability of mini-SEA's performance over a 3-4-month time period, as well as to produce normative data for French-Quebec people aged 50 years. Normative data are derived for the full and an abbreviated version of the Faux Pas subtest.

Method: The sample included 211 French-speaking participants from Quebec (Canada) aged 50 to 89 years. Mini-SEA's performance between a sub-sample of cognitively healthy people (n = 20), those with MCI (n = 20) or with AD (n = 20) was compared. A sub-sample of cognitively healthy people (n = 30) performed the task twice to estimate test-retest reliability. Socio-demographic variables' effects on scores were examined to produce normative data in the form of regression equations or percentile ranks.

Results: Significant differences emerged between cognitively healthy people and those with MCI or AD. Moreover, scores were relatively stable over a period of 3 to 4 months. Finally, for the normative data, age, gender, and education were associated with performance on the mini-SEA or its subtests.

Conclusions: This study improves and standardizes social cognition's assessment among French-Quebec individuals, which will help characterize their cognitive profile.