The development of a measure of social cognition following acquired brain injury

ABSTRACT

Deficits in social cognition following acquired brain injury (ABI) have been found to be both prevalent and disabling. Despite this, relatively little attention has been given to identifying the characteristics of such deficits in a systematic way. We describe the development of self and informant versions of a new questionnaire designed to measure the changes in social cognition that may occur following ABI, the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust (BIRT) Social Cognition Questionnaire (BSCQ). Seventy-two participants (Mean age  = 36 years, SD = 12), with different forms of ABI (76% traumatic brain injury, 8% cerebrovascular accident, 15% other) and who were on average 20 months post-injury (SD = 16), took part in the study. The measure demonstrates excellent psychometric properties, including high test-retest (.94) and split-half (.92) reliability, high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = .92), and good concurrent validity. The questionnaire measures characteristics that are distinguishable from measures of cognitive ability. There was moderate overlap between self-report and informant versions of the questionnaire (r = .50), but the informant version had the strongest predictive value of outcome, measured with the Mayo-Portland Adaptability Inventory III, one year later. The potential uses of the measure in relation to theory and practice are discussed. The results suggest that the BSCQ is a useful screening tool for those with ABI.

KEYWORDS:

• Measurement
• questionnaire
• outcome prediction
• post-injury personality

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all those who participated in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.