Purpose: Validated tools to assess conversation difficulties and their impacts on care providers in primary progressive aphasia (PPA), a neurodegenerative syndrome mainly affecting language, are lacking. The Perception of Conversation Index–Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type (PCI-DAT), validated initially in Alzheimer's dementia, measures perceived communication challenges, compensatory strategies, and psychosocial outcomes for care partners. Method: We examined the construct validity of the PCI-DAT in 95 communication partners of individuals with PPA who were co-enrolled in the Communication Bridge-2 randomized controlled trial. Exploratory factor analysis and parallel analysis were employed to investigate the underlying factor structure and item-fit statistics. Correlations with established measures that shared similar constructs were also assessed for convergent validity. Results: A three-factor structure emerged, with strong construct validity for PCI-DAT Subscales 1, 4, and 5. Most items (87.8%) demonstrated good fit in the PPA sample. There were moderate-to-strong correlations with established measures between PCI-DAT Subscale 1 (Conversation Difficulties), Subscale 4 (Feelings), and Subscale 5 (Challenges), with r values greater than .50 and p values less than .001. Conclusions: This study is the first to evaluate the use of the PCI-DAT in PPA. Results support the construct validity of the measure in PPA clinical care when examining conversation difficulties and their impacts on care partners.
Santos et al. (Wed,) studied this question.