Do traditional executive measures tell us anything about daily-life functioning after traumatic brain injury in Spanish-speaking individuals?

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between traditional executive function measures and everyday competence in Spanish-speaking individuals with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI).

METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Thirty-two TBI patients (24 men, eight women) with an age range of 17-59 years (mean age = 30.73 years; SD = 13.34) were administered a battery of performance-based executive function measures. Such measures included the Trail Making Test part B, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Stroop Colour Word Interference Test, Controlled Oral Word Association Test and Letter-Number Sequencing. Behavioural manifestations of executive deficits were assessed by the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult version (BRIEF-A). Patient's everyday functioning was examined with the Patient Competency Rating Scale (PCRS).

MAIN OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Traditional performance-based executive measures correlated significantly, although moderately, with the PCRS; this relationship was more significant in the Controlled Oral Word Association Test and Trail Making Test part B. A significant correlation was obtained between the BRIEF-A clinical scales and patient's everyday competence as measured by the PCRS.

CONCLUSIONS: The current findings suggest that traditional performance-based executive measures reveal some degree of ecological validity or real-world relevance, providing relevant information for predicting everyday competence after moderate-to-severe TBI.