Validity and reliability of the Brazilian version of the Cognitive Reserve Assessment Scale in Health

As the older population increases, it is important to identify factors that may reduce the risks of dementia in the general population. One such factor is the concept of cognitive reserve (CR). The present study analyzed the psychometric properties of the Cognitive Reserve Assessment Scale in Health (CRASH) in the Brazilian population. This scale was originally developed to measure CR in individuals with severe mental illness. We also investigated the relationship between the CRASH and clinical or sociodemographic variables.

This study was conducted with 398 individuals. We assessed sociodemographic variables and depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale [DASS-21]) using a web-based survey. We constructed a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) model in order to test the goodness of fit of the factor structure proposed in the original CRASH study.

The McDonald's hierarchical ω for CRASH using CFA parameters was 0.61, and the Cronbach's alpha coefficient indicated good internal consistency when considering all items (alpha = 0.7).

Our results suggest that CRASH can be used to assess CR in the general population in Brazil.