Article

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) often leads to executive functions (EF)
deficits, resulting in severe longstanding disabilities in daily life activities.
The sensitivity and ecological validity of neuropsychological tests have been
questioned. The aim of this study was to pilot a novel open-ended naturalistic
task and to compare it to other standardized assessments of EF in children post-TBI. METHODS: Ten children aged 8-14, with moderate-to-severe TBI, and 18
matched controls participated in the study. The clinical group was assessed using
cognitive tests and parent-based questionnaires of EF. An interactive ecological
cooking task was designed. RESULTS: Analyses indicated mild-to-moderate executive
deficits in the cognitive tests in approximately half of the TBI group. For the
experimental cooking task, all quantitative and qualitative variables were
significantly impaired for the TBI group compared to the control group and
failure in the cooking task was associated with lower scores in cognitive tests
of EF. The task was able to discriminate the TBI children from the control group.
CONCLUSION: This pilot study highlights the role of naturalistic assessments, to
complement standardized tests in assessing patients' dysexecutive impairments in
complex activities of daily living post-childhood TBI.

Langue : ANGLAIS