A - 5 Patients' Understanding of Neuropsychological Performance Descriptors: a Pilot Study.

Abstract

Descriptive labels to communicate neuropsychological performance are an integral part of neuropsychological reports. Although the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN) developed a consensus statement on uniform descriptive labels to standardize use of performance descriptors, patients' understanding of these labels is unclear. This pilot study sought to evaluate patient understanding of neuropsychological performance descriptors. Patients (N = 47) completed a survey consisting of 13 questions evaluating AACN's uniform label system and an alternative, patient-centered label system (PCL) designed to improve patients' understanding of scores. Questions assessed knowledge of label descriptions and their associated percentiles (e.g., average = 25-75th %ile), and the relative relationship between labels. Paired t-tests were used to determine if patients were more accurate in correctly understanding the AACN vs. PCL descriptive labels. Patients were significantly more accurate in understanding PCL labels (M = 1.38, SD = 0.49) than AACN's labels (M = 1.72, SD = 0.45), t = 4.08, p.05). Overall, patients demonstrated difficulty accurately understanding percentiles (M correct responses =1.36 of 5). Results demonstrated that patients may not adequately understand AACN's descriptive label system or other methods used to describe scores (i.e., percentiles). An improved understanding of labels was seen with an alternative label system (PCL), although response accuracy was still weak. Future studies should assess understanding of performance descriptors among caregivers and healthcare providers, and also examine patient-centric methods for presenting neuropsychological results.