Cultural, Linguistic and Contextual Factors in Validating the Mental Status Questionnaire: The Experience of Aboriginal Elders in Manitoba

This paper examines the impact of linguistic, cultural and contextual factors on the validity of mental status instruments through comparison of the performance of Native and non- Native respondents in a population-based survey of elderly Manitobans. Qualitative data describing potential biases associated with language, cultural and contextual factors are also drawn from observations of interviews using a culturally adapted instrument to screen for dementia among Cree speak ing Native elders living on Manitoba reserves and English speaking non-Native elders living in Winnipeg.