Assessment of neurobehavioural disability: A review of existing measures and recommendations for a comprehensive assessment tool

• Published in: Brain injury 2008-01, Vol.22 (12), p.905-918
• Main Authors: Ll. Wood, R., Alderman, N., Williams, C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: assessment; Brain Injuries - psychology; Brain Injuries - rehabilitation; Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale; disability; handicap; Humans; Mental Disorders - diagnosis; Mental Disorders - psychology; Mental Disorders - rehabilitation; Mood Disorders - diagnosis; Mood Disorders - psychology; Neurobehavioral; Outcome Assessment (Health Care); Prognosis; Psychometrics; reliability; Reproducibility of Results; Surveys and Questionnaires; validity
• ISSN: 0269-9052; 1362-301X
• DOI: 10.1080/02699050802491271

Primary objective: Neurobehavioural disability (NBD) has a major impact on long-term psychosocial outcome: however, measures used to identify characteristics of NBD have not been fully evaluated. This review therefore discusses issues surrounding the concept and assessment of NBD following acquired brain injury (ABI) by examining the psychometric properties and other qualities of some of the most well known instruments used to assess NBD. It is the authors' intention to use this review to encourage researchers to develop new NBD measurement tools. Main outcomes: The review highlights a number of concerns with existing measures, including; the absence of a clear theoretical framework, a failure to distinguish impairment, disability and handicap when measuring characteristics of NBD and issues surrounding reliability and validity. Conclusions: The authors propose, promote and encourage the development of further measures with improved reliability and validity to help ensure that the unique characteristics of NBD are captured more effectively.