Development of the Telephone-based Daily Instrumental Activities of Living (T-DIAL) to assess financial management remotely in older adults

The current study evaluated the reliability and validity of a novel, performance-based banking task in 60 younger (18–34 years) and 60 older (50–85 years) adults. All participants completed the Telephone-based Daily Instrumental Activities of Living (T-DIAL) using interactive voice response technology to complete a series of mock actions with a financial institution via telephone. The T-DIAL showed strong inter-rater reliability and internal consistency. T-DIAL accuracy was significantly and independently related to better self-reported instrumental activities of daily living and executive functions at a large effect size. Findings from this study provided preliminary supportive evidence for the reliability and validity of the T-DIAL, which had robust associations with manifest everyday functioning and higher-order cognitive ability. Future work is needed on the psychometrics (e.g. test–retest reliability, normative standards), and construct validity (e.g. diagnostic accuracy) of the T-DIAL in neurocognitive disorders and under-served communities for whom remote evaluations might be particularly relevant.