Psychometric characteristics of two semi-structured scales for the functional evaluation of hemi-inattention in extrapersonal and personal space

Abstract

The psychometric characteristics of two semi-structured scales for evaluation of the extrapersonal and personal hemi-inattentive disorder in situations similar to those of everyday life are analysed. The scales were administered to 73 RBD patients (55 resulted hemi-inattentive on standard diagnostic tests) and to 26 control subjects. Results showed a high level of interjudge and internal consistency for both instruments. Asymmetrical performances were very rare in control subjects. For the Extrapersonal Scale, asymmetry was detected in most neglect patients while it was rare in patients without neglect. For the Personal Scale, about half of hemi-inattentive patients and 25% of patients without hemi-inattention displayed asymmetrical performance. These findings are consistent with the idea that the Personal Scale measures a different dimension than both the Extrapersonal Scale and standard tests for neglect. In a similar vein, the Extrapersonal, but not the Personal, Scale was correlated with standard tests of neglect. Finally, a sub-sample of neglect patients was subjected to a specific rehabilitation programme. The Extrapersonal Scale (and, to a lesser degree, the Personal Scale) proved sensitive in identifying the explorative changes produced by the training.