QUANTIFICATION OF ATTENTION-RELATED BEHAVIORS IN INDIVIDUALS WITH TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY - A PILOT-STUDY

Clinical disorders of attention are common after traumatic brain injur y but objective measures of their nature and severity are lacking. We developed a standardized independent work task to be performed by pati ents in a controlled, distracting environment. Videotaped records of p atient behavior were made and coded in 15-s intervals for on-task beha vior, presence of distractors and presence of extraneous motor behavio r. Interrater reliability was good to excellent across eleven testing sessions involving four patients. This evaluation system revealed clin ically important differences in on-task behavior among the four patien ts, as well as different levels of distraction in response to external stimuli. It also showed effects of different tasks and repeated sessi ons. These data indicate that this evaluation system and accompanying coding process are reliable and provide preliminary evidence that they produce clinically valid results.