In BIMS terminology, what term names the prompts that guide patient responses to be consistent?

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Multiple Choice

In BIMS terminology, what term names the prompts that guide patient responses to be consistent?

Category cues are prompts used in BIMS to steer the respondent’s answers into a specific category, keeping responses consistent across items and among different patients. By focusing recall within defined domains, these cues reduce variability and support reliable scoring. For example, when asking about daily memory, a category cue might direct the respondent to think only about items they use regularly, so answers stay within the same type of category. This specificity is what makes category cues the best term. Refusals describe a patient declining to answer, and response tracking is about recording what was answered; hints to assist responses describe general prompting but are not the formal term used in BIMS.

Category cues are prompts used in BIMS to steer the respondent’s answers into a specific category, keeping responses consistent across items and among different patients. By focusing recall within defined domains, these cues reduce variability and support reliable scoring. For example, when asking about daily memory, a category cue might direct the respondent to think only about items they use regularly, so answers stay within the same type of category. This specificity is what makes category cues the best term. Refusals describe a patient declining to answer, and response tracking is about recording what was answered; hints to assist responses describe general prompting but are not the formal term used in BIMS.

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