Encyclopedia of Psychology and Law

Declines in FC have also been observed in persons

with MCI. Relative to normal older adults, individuals

with MCI demonstrated mild impairment in the

domains of financial conceptual knowledge, check-

book and bank statement, financial judgment, and bill

payment. More specifically, persons with MCI had

relative difficulty with tasks requiring practical appli-

cation of financial concepts, understanding and using

a bank statement, and prioritizing and preparing bills

for mailing. However, persons with MCI performed

significantly better than persons with mild AD on

most domain-level financial activities and task-

specific abilities. However, not all patients with MCI

demonstrated these impairments, suggesting hetero-

geneity in financial performance in this prodromal

dementia group. Nonetheless, these results suggest

that a significant, albeit mild, decline in financial abil-

ities is an aspect of functional change associated with

MCI and may play a role in the eventual conversion of

MCI patients to AD. Accordingly, clinicians should

monitor over time the FC of individuals with MCI.

Daniel C. Marson and Katina R. Hebert

See alsoCompetency, Foundational and Decisional;

Financial Capacity Instrument (FCI); Forensic

Assessment; Guardianship; Testamentary Capacity

Further Readings

Griffith, H. R., Belue, K., Sicola, A., Krzywanski, S.,

Zamrini, E., Harrell, L., et al. (2003). Impaired financial

abilities in mild cognitive impairment: A direct

assessment approach. Neurology, 60,449–457.

Marson, D. C., Savage, R., & Phillips, J. (2006). Financial

capacity in persons with schizophrenia and serious mental

illness: Clinical and research ethics aspects. Schizophrenia

Bulletin, 32,81–91.

Marson, D. C., Sawrie, S. M., Snyder, S., McInturff, B.,

Stalvey, T., Boothe, A., et al. (2000). Assessing financial

capacity in patients with Alzheimer’s disease: A

conceptual model and prototype instrument. Archives of

Neurology, 57,877–884.

Moye, J. (2003). Guardianship and conservatorship. In

T. Grisso (Ed.),Evaluating competencies: Forensic

assessments and instruments(pp. 309–389).New York:

Plenum.

Wadley, V., Harrell, L., & Marson, D. (2003). Self and

informant report of financial abilities in patients with

Alzheimer’s disease: Reliable and valid? Journal of the

American Geriatrics Society, 51,1621–1626.

FINANCIALCAPACITY

INSTRUMENT(FCI)

The Financial Capacity Instrument (FCI) is a concep-

tually based, standardized psychometric instrument

designed to directly assess everyday financial activi-

ties and abilities relevant to community-dwelling

adults. The FCI assesses financial skills at the task,

domain, and global levels. The current version of the

FCI (FCI-9) consists of 20 financial tasks, 9 domains

of financial activity, and 2 global levels. The FCI is a

reliable and valid measure of financial capacity that

discriminates well between cognitively intact older

adults and persons with mild and moderate Alzheimer’s

disease (AD). The FCI has also proven sensitive to

identifying subtler changes in the financial abilities of

individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In

addition to older adults with dementia, the FCI has

application to other patient groups with acquired cog-

nitive and functional impairment, including patients

with multiple scleroses, stroke, and traumatic brain

injury. It is an instrument that has application in both

clinical and forensic contexts.

Conceptualization and

Development of the FCI

There continues to be a pressing need for conceptually

based, standardized assessment instruments specific to

the construct of financial capacity. The FCI was devel-

oped to help fill this need. The FCI is based on a three-

level conceptual model that analyzes financial capacity

at the task, domain, and global levels. Specifically, this

model examines (a) financial abilities (or tasks), such

as counting coins/currency, using a vending machine,

or preparing bills for mailing; (b) broader domains of

financial activity relevant to independent function in

the community, such as conducting cash transactions,

checkbook management, or financial judgment; and

(c) global measures of overall financial capacity.

The original FCI (FCI-6) consisted of 14 specific

tasks that assessed six domains of financial activity,

including basic monetary skills (D1), financial con-

ceptual knowledge (D2), cash transactions (D3),

checkbook management (D4), bank statement man-

agement (D5), and financial judgment (D6). The FCI

was revised in 2001 to include eight separate domains

and 19 standardized, quantifiable behavioral tasks

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