Feasibility and construct evaluation of the Mobility Assessment Course in detecting neglect as part of standard screening

Abstract

Abstract thesis In the last years the proposal of digital measures has been widely researched and accepted as a more sensitive and reliable form of neglect diagnostics (Marsh, & Hillis, 2008). Both the paper-and-pencil tasks as the digital tasks are taken in a private setting, with only patient and psychologist. Our daily life, however, frequently consists of more dynamic situations. To increase the sensitivity of the diagnosis, the addition of more dynamic tasks are recommended, such as the Mobility Assessment Course (MAC). To provide more insight in dynamic task the MAC, current study aims to (1) evaluate the feasibility and clinical use of the MAC in detecting neglect in a standard screening, (2) explore the necessity of the double task aspect in a dynamic task such as the MAC, and (3) to explore the relation with other tasks to compare the construct being measured. Stroke patients admitted to the rehabilitation center were tested with the MAC, object cancellation, line bisection and Catherine Bergego Scale (CBS). The MAC is feasible for standard screening with a completion percentage of 73.1. The MAC is found of clinical use. With less errors observed for the healthy controls versus the neglect patients, and less errors observed for no neglect patients versus neglect patients. Patients who completed the MAC without being pushed in a wheelchair (i.e. walked independently) had less mistakes than patients who were dependent. The MAC was highly positively correlated with the CBS, indicating a coherent underlying construct.