Validation of Cognitive Reserve Index Questionnaire for Community-Dwelling Older Adults With Cognitive Frailty

Objective Cognitive reserve is a resilience construct that mitigates the impact of brain aging and disease on cognition, yet validated instruments remain scarce in older adults with cognitive frailty. This study aimed to translate, culturally adapt, and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Cognitive Reserve Index questionnaire (C-CRIq) among community-dwelling older adults with cognitive frailty. Methods A methodological study was conducted. The C-CRIq was translated using a modified Brislin back-translation model, and translation validity was examined. Psychometric testing followed COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN), assessing content validity, convergent validity, known-groups validity, and test-retest reliability. Partial Least Squares regression was applied to confirm the measurement model. Results A total of 231 participants with cognitive frailty were recruited. Translation validity index reached 100%. Item-level and scale-level content validity indices were high (0.875-1.00; 0.82; 0.98). Convergent validity exceeded 0.60, known-groups validity demonstrated sex differences, and test-retest reliability was strong (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.85). Conclusions The C-CRIq is a valid, reliable, and feasible instrument for assessing cognitive reserve in older adults with cognitive frailty, supporting neuropsychiatric care, risk stratification, and cross-cultural geriatric research.