Validation of and Normative Data of the DVAQ-30, a New Video-Naming Test for Assessing Verb Anomia

Abstract

Abstract Objective Anomia is usually assessed using picture-naming tests. While many tests evaluate anomia for nouns, very few tests have been specifically designed for verb anomia. This article presents the DVAQ-30, a new naming test for detecting verb anomia in adults and elderly people. Method The article describes three studies. Study 1 focused on the DVAQ-30 development phase. In Study 2, healthy participants and individuals with post-stroke aphasia, mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, or primary progressive aphasia were assessed using the DVAQ-30 to establish its convergent and discriminant validity, test–retest reliability, and internal consistency. In Study 3, a group of adults and elderly Quebec French-speaking adults were assessed to obtain normative data. Results The DVAQ-30 had good convergent validity and distinguished the performance of healthy participants from that of participants with pathological conditions. The test also had good internal consistency, and the test–retest analysis showed that the scores had good temporal stability. Furthermore, normative data were collected on the performance of 244 participants aged 50 years old and over. Conclusions The DVAQ-30 fills an important gap and has the potential to help clinicians and researchers better detect verb anomia associated with pathological aging and post-stroke aphasia.