MOS Cognitive Functioning Scale

The MOS Cognitive Functioning Scale measures a range of less severe, day-to-day problems in six aspects of cognitive functioning, including reasoning, concentration and thinking, confusion, memory, attention, and psychomotor. Impairment in cognitive functioning can have a major impact on quality of life and daily functioning and can also be a symptom of specific conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, or depression.

The MOS Cognitive Functioning Scale was originally developed in the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS), but has recently been revised. The new form, the MOS Cognitive Functioning Scale–Revised (MOS COG–R), differs from the original in that it has five response options, rather than six, for each question. The response option "a good bit of the time" has been eliminated. This change was made based on findings from SF-36^® Health Survey translation studies (Keller, Ware, Gandek et al., 1998), that this response choice was not consistently ordered in relation to other adjacent response choices ("most of the time" and "some of the time"). Eliminating this response option simplified the format of the form with little or no loss of information.

The reliability and validity of the MOS Cognitive Functioning Scale have been evaluated in bipolar disorder, HIV, major depression disorder, epilepsy, and insomnia, among others. A recent literature search yielded 20 citations in which this scale had been used in studies, including two clinical trials.

QualityMetric distributes multiple language translations of the six question version of the MOS Cognitive Functioning Scale. The scale is intended for adults 18 years of age and older and is available in a fixed form mode of administration with a standard four-week recall period.