Core Health Care Network, Inc.

To assess the ecological validity of the Screening Module of the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB-SM) using the Functional Independence Measure (FIM).

Seventy individuals with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury at a residential post-acute rehabilitation facility were administered the FIM instrument and the NAB-SM upon admission. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between the variables from these two assessment measures.

Hierarchical models revealed that (1) the NAB-SM Total score was significantly associated with the FIM instrument Total score as well as the Motor and Cognition sub-scale scores, above and beyond the contribution of demographic variables, (2) the NAB-SM Language, Memory and Spatial domain scores were significantly associated with of the FIM instrument Cognition sub-scale score and (3) the NAB-SM Spatial domain score was significantly associated with of the FIM instrument Total and Motor sub-scale scores.

The current findings support previous research and provide strong evidence for the ecological validity of the NAB-SM with regard to functional abilities as assessed by the FIM instrument.

The assessment of ecological validity of neuropsychological measures is an area of growing interest, particularly in the postacute brain injury rehabilitation (PABIR) setting, as there is an increasing demand for clinicians to address functional and real-world outcomes. In the current study, we assessed the predictive value of the Screening module and the Daily Living tests of the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (NAB) using clinician ratings from the Mayo-Portland Adaptability Inventory-4 (MPAI-4) in patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury.

Forty-seven individuals were each administered the NAB Screening module (NAB-SM) and the NAB Daily Living (NAB-DL) tests following admission to a residential PABIR program. MPAI-4 ratings were also obtained at admission. Linear regression analysis was used to examine the association between these functional and neuropsychological assessment measures.

We replicated prior work (Temple at al., 2009) and expanded evidence for the ecological validity of the NAB-SM. Furthermore, our findings support the ecological validity of the NAB-DL Bill Payment, Judgment, and Map Reading tests with regards to functional skills and real-world activities.

The current study supports prior work from our lab assessing the predictive value of the NAB-SM, as well as provides evidence for the ecological validity for select NAB-DL tests in patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury admitted to a residential PABIR program.