The decision-making task: Development and evaluation in a paediatric traumatic brain injury population

ABSTRACT

Assessment measures that quantify decision-making abilities in children and adolescents are limited. In the current study, a novel computerized Decision-Making Task (DMT), which identifies the process that is involved in decision-making, was developed based on an existing information-boards paradigm. The overall aim was to validate the DMT in a paediatric TBI population. This prospective study investigated the performance on the DMT for children post-TBI (n = 49; 7–15 years) compared to typically developing controls (n = 22; 7–15 years), and investigated the psychometric properties of the DMT by examining internal consistency-related reliability, convergent validity (measures of decision-making, working memory, functional outcomes, and behaviour), and divergent validity (vocabulary). Significant differences were detected for performance on the DMT between children post-TBI and the control group. Psychometric properties of the DMT were acceptable, with variable findings for convergent validity (working memory, functional outcomes, and behaviour). This is the first study to develop and investigate a novel computerised task to assess decision-making skills in a paediatric TBI population. Results cautiously suggest that the DMT is a valid and a reliable measure of decision-making in our clinical sample.

KEYWORDS:

• Traumatic brain injury
• Paediatric
• Executive function
• Decision-making
• Decision-making task

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (clinical researchers and volunteer staff), The Royal Children’s Hospital, and research participants, the University of Melbourne (Department of Paediatrics), the Victorian Government Operational Infrastructure Scheme, Professor Joshua Klayman (The University of Chicago Booth School of Business), Associate Professor Stephen Hearps (Data Scientist/Biostatistician, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute), and Deepankra Sood (IT Consultant on the digital adaptation of the decision-making task; Director of Implementation, Annex Cloud).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The first author was supported by the PhD scholarships provided by the University of Melbourne.