Neurobehavioral functions evaluated in naturalistic contexts: Rasch analysis of the A-ONE Neurobehavioral Impact Scale

Abstract

Objective: The fact that different neurobehavioral impairments affect daily life task performance of clients with different neurological diagnoses currently restricts between-group comparisons in rehabilitation. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a single neurobehavioral impact scale could be constructed for use with different diagnostic groups. Methods and results. Rasch analysis of 422 clients (diagnosed with CVA and dementia) demonstrated that 29 of 55 items from the A-ONE Neurobehavioral Scale could be used to construct a short-form, Common Scale. Conclusions: While the use of different and longer diagnostic-specific scales versions may be more useful clinically, the short-form, Common Scale has the potential to be used in research focusing on comparison of groups. Further research will be needed to validate the common, short version.

Key words::

• assessment
• cerebrovascular accident
• dementia
• neurology
• occupational therapy
• outcome
• stroke

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to acknowledge the occupational therapists at the rehabilitation and geriatric wards of the Landspítali University Hospital who used the A-ONE to evaluate their clients. The study was supported by grants from the Landspítali University Hospital in Iceland.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.