COGNITIVE TASKS FOR OLDER ADULTS: IDENTIFICATION AND EVIDENCE OF CONTENT VALIDITY

Abstract

This article aimed to identify traditional activities used in cognitive training with older adults and to investigate the content validity of tasks that did not indicate this psychometric quality. To this end, a literature review was conducted, considering publications between 2013 and 2024 in the PubMed, PsycINFO, and SciELO databases, using the keywords "cognitive training", "cognitive rehabilitation", "neuropsychological rehabilitation", and "elderly". The validity indication of the tasks was verified, and those without it were submitted to neuropsychology experts to assess their content validity. A total of 407 cognitive tasks from 205 articles were analyzed; of these, 248 indicated validation. The remaining 159 were evaluated regarding: 1. The level of confidence to train the described function (low, medium, high); 2. The expert's experience with the task; and 3. The potential to train other functions. Most tasks showed medium to high confidence among the experts. Four tasks were considered inappropriate, and for five there was no agreement. Most tasks (52.2%) were perceived as useful for training other cognitive functions. It is concluded that validating intervention activities is important and that most traditional cognitive tasks employed in cognitive training with older adults evaluated represented good options to train the indicated and other functions.