The Cognitive Function at Work Questionnaire in memory clinic setting: a validation study

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographics for memory clinic cohort and diagnostic patient groups.

	Total cohort (N = 113)	Diagnostic outcome
		EOD (N = 22)	MCI-n (N = 18)	MCI-o (N = 59)	SCD (N = 14)	p-Value
Age (M, SD)	56.3 (5.9)	57.5 (5.5)	60.1 (4.5)^1,2	54.9 (6.2)	55.5 (5.1)	.004
Gender (females, %)	54	50	38.9	57.6	64.3	.439
Education (%):						.361
<9 yrs	13.3	4.5	11.1	18.6	7.1
9–12rs	47.8	54.5	66.7	40.7	42.9
>12 yrs	38.9	40.9	22.2	40.7	50.0
Working (%)	65.5	40.9^1	61.1	72.9	78.6	.036

Abbreviations: EOD = Early-Onset Dementia; MCI-n = Mild Cognitive Impairment – neurological; MCI-o = Mild Cognitive Impairment – other; SCD = Subjective Cognitive Decline. ¹A significant (p < .05) pairwise group comparison to MCI-o. ²A significant (p < .05) pairwise group comparison to SCD.

Table 2. The CFWQ items and the factor loadings for the cognitive domains.

CFWQ item	CFWQ subscale
	Mem	Lan	Exe^1	Spe^1	Con	Nam	Vis	Att
1. Tasks agreed with other people?	.45*							.66
4. Things you have read?	.66	.34
5. Things you have heard?	.81
6. Precise details of things?	.70
16. Fluent recall of things?	.59		.38
21. Speech comprehension?	.33	.59
22. Speech production?		.72
23. Reading?		.61				.42
24. Writing?		.73
3. Your own work plans?			.58			.35
14. Finalizing tasks?			.76
17. Forethoughts needed in tasks?	.31		.56
18. Starting/engaging in tasks?			.72
20. Making decisions and judgments at work?			.58
26. Initiative?			.49		.47
15. Completing/performing tasks fast?				.69			.33
25. Speed of actions?		.33		.65
27. Coherence of thinking?			.38		.45		.31
28. judgment in financial or problematic situations?					.77
29. Control of emotions and behavior?		.31			.68
7. Names of new people/acquaintances?	.34					.72
8. Names of familiar people?						.60		.30
9. Location of tools and objects?		.38					.37*
10. Familiar work methods or use of familiar tools?		.32					.67
11. New work methods and use of new tools?	.40						.65
2. Appointments agreed with other people?	.31							.76
12. Continuing a task after an interruption?	.49		.53					.33*
13. Monotonous repetitive tasks?								.74
19. Checking the correctness of work performance?			.67					.32*

Abbreviations: CFWQ = Cognitive Function at Work Questionnaire; Mem = Memory; Lan = Language; Exe = Executive Function; Spe = Speed of Processing; Con = Cognitive Control; Nam = Name Memory; Vis = Visuospatial/praxis; Att = Attention

Note: N = 113. Factor analysis was performed with Principal Component Analysis. Rotated factor matrix displayed (Varimax with Kaiser Normalization). Factor loadings exceeding .30 are presented. Bolding indicates the CFWQ subscale where the question is located. Questions in italics (2, 9–13, 19) were not included in the previous factor model (Heikkinen et al., 2021) due to low communality. *Items placed on a subscale of a lower factor loading based on the content and to keep the original factor structure. ¹The PCA calculated the Exe and Spe as one factor, however, they are kept separate to keep the original factor structure.

Table 3. Clinical characteristics of memory clinic cohort and diagnostic patient groups.

	Total cohort (N = 113)	Diagnostic outcome
		EOD (N = 22)	MCI-n (N = 18)	MCI-o (N = 59)	SCD (N = 14)	p-Value
Examination seeking (self-referred, %)	54.3	42.9	41.2	57.4	76.9	.159
Confirmation of cognitive symptoms by observer (%)	82.0	90.9	77.8	82.5	71.4	.443
Concern associated with cognitive symptoms (%)	90.7	95.0	82.4	89.7	100.0	.458
Insidious onset of cognitive symptoms (%)	82.5	76.5	78.6	81.5	100.0	.349
General cognitive impairment level (M, SD)	1.19 (.75)	1.78 (.89)^1	1.33 (.60)	1.17 (.57)	.22 (.13)^2	<.001

Abbreviations: EOD = Early-Onset Dementia; MCI-n = Mild Cognitive Impairment – neurological; MCI-o = Mild Cognitive Impairment – other; SCD = Subjective Cognitive Decline. ¹A significant (p < .05) pairwise group comparison to MCI-o and to SCD. ²All pairwise group comparisons significant (p < .001).

Table 4. CFWQ scores (M, SD) for memory clinic cohort and diagnostic patient groups.

CFWQ character	Total cohort (N = 113)	Diagnostic outcome
		EOD (N = 22)	MCI-n (N= 18)	MCI-o (N = 59)	SCD (N = 14)
29-item Total score	18.9 (10.4)	20.7 (9.8)	15.1 (10.0)	19.6 (11.2)	17.7 (7.5)
“Often Difficult” -score	3.6 (4.3)	3.7 (4.2)	1.9 (2.8)	4.2 (4.8)	3.3 (3.2)
No. of domains	4.3 (2.4)	5.0 (2.3)	3.8 (2.9)	4.2 (2.4)	4.1 (2.3)
CFWQ subscales
Mem	4.9 (2.6)	5.0 (2.2)	3.5 (2.6)	5.2 (2.8)	5.1 (2.4)
Lan	1.5 (1.7)	1.2 (1.4)	1.3 (1.5)	1.8 (1.8)	0.7 (1.1)
Exe	3.7 (2.9)	4.2 (2.8)	2.9 (2.6)	3.8 (3.2)	3.8 (2.5)
Spe	1.4 (1.2)	1.7 (1.0)	1.2 (1.2)	1.5 (1.3)	1.1 (1.0)
Con	1.3 (1.4)	1.5 (1.3)	1.3 (1.3)	1.2 (1.5)	1.2 (1.3)
Nam	2.2 (1.0)	1.9 (1.0)	2.2 (.8)	2.3 (1.0)	2.4 (1.0)
Vis	1.7 (1.4)	2.3 (1.2)	1.2 (1.0)	1.8 (1.5)	1.1 (.9)
Att	2.2 (1.8)	3.0 (1.9)	1.6 (1.5)	2.1 (1.9)	2.4 (1.4)

Abbreviations: CFWQ = Cognitive Function at Work Questionnaire; EOD = Early-Onset Dementia; MCI-n = Mild Cognitive Impairment – neurological; MCI-o = Mild Cognitive Impairment – other; SCD = Subjective Cognitive Decline¸ Mem = Memory; Lan = Language; Exe = Executive Function; Spe = Speed of Processing; Con = Cognitive Control; Nam = Name Memory; Vis = Visuospatial/praxis; Att = Attention.

Table 5. Spearman correlation coefficients between the CFWQ and clinical cognitive impairment level for total patient cohort.

Neuropsychological domain	CFWQ measure
	Total score	No. of domains	Mem	Lan	Exe	Spe	Con	Nam	Vis	Att
General	.19*	.24*	.07	.20*	.14	.24**	.24**	−.06	.33**	.12
Verbal memory	.21**	.26**	.26**	.16	.07	.14	.13	.09	.31**	.23*
Visual memory	.16	.18	.10	.03	.14	.12	.17	−.05	.31**	.04
Working memory	.26**	.26**	.20*	.25**	.20*	.29**	.20*	−.01	.21*	.25**
Attention	.20*	.20*	.08	.21*	.16	.14	.16	.13	.18	.22*
Executive functions	.03	.09	−.11	.10	.04	.15	.12	−.08	.19*	−.04
Processing Speed	.08	.10	−.01	.05	.03	.23*	.03	−.03	.16	.12
Language skills	.20*	.22*	.06	.26**	.19*	.24*	.25**	.00	.18	.14
Visuospatial skills	.04	.06	−.06	.05	.07	.13	.15	−.18	.15	−.10
Behav/affective	.01	.02	−.10	.01	.06	.05	.27**	−.18	.11	.00

Abbreviations: CFWQ = Cognitive Function at Work Questionnaire; Mem = Memory; Lan = Language; Exe = Executive Function; Spe = Speed of Processing; Con = Cognitive Control; Nam = Name Memory; Vis = Visuospatial/Praxis; Att = Attention. * p < .05; **p < .01.

Heikkinen, A.-L., Hänninen, T., Kuikka, P., Akila, R., Savolainen, A., Valtonen, T., Umer, A., Lötjönen, J., Hublin, C., Remes, A. M., & Paajanen, T. (2021). The Cognitive Function at Work Questionnaire (CFWQ): A new scale for measuring cognitive complaints in occupational population. Applied Neuropsychology. Adult, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/23279095.2021.1970553

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Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (Dr. Teemu Paajanen, [email protected]), upon reasonable request.