A-208 The Effect of Language on Invalid Baselines in ImPACT

Abstract

Abstract Objective The Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) is a computerized assessment of cognitive abilities used for management of sport-concussion that has been translated into 22 languages. Research suggests that language of administration may affect ImPACT performance in bilingual individuals. This study examined the rate of invalid baselines in bilingual/monolingual athletes and in different languages of administrations to explore any potential language biases in ImPACT’s validity index. Methods Participants included 47,677 athletes (Mage = 15.11; 57.37% male) from across Nevada who completed a baseline assessment. There were 90 different languages reported among 10,798 bilingual athletes (22.65%). Chi-square analyses were conducted to examine group differences in rate of invalid baselines by language (monolingual/bilingual) and administration language. Results Overall, 6.2% of athletes produced invalid baselines. There were no significant differences in the rate of invalid baselines in self-reported monolingual (6.1%) and bilingual athletes (6.4%; p > .05). There were 12 different languages of administration; however, due to small sample sizes of some administration languages, further analyses were only conducted with English and Spanish administrations. There were no significant differences in invalid baselines in English (6.2%) and Spanish administrations (7.3%; p > .05). Additionally, among the bilingual Spanish/English speakers, there were no significant differences in invalid baselines in English (6.4%) and Spanish administrations (6.5%; p > .05). Conclusion The current study demonstrates that rates of invalid baselines do not differ based on monolingualism/bilingualism or administration language. This is promising given the high demand for baseline testing, an increase in athletes’ diverse language abilities, and various available languages of ImPACT administration.