Assessment of executive functions in older adults: Translation and initial validation of the Swedish version of the Frontal Assessment Battery, FAB-Swe

Abstract

Objectives The Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) is a screening test for executive functions. The purpose of this study was to describe the translation process and to make an initial evaluation of the reliability and convergent validity of the Swedish version of the FAB, the FAB-Swe. Methods The FAB-Swe was translated and adapted to Swedish using a translation and back-translation procedure. Seventy community-dwelling participants aged 65 years or older participated. Participants completed the FAB-Swe, the Mini-Mental State Examination – Swedish Revision (MMSE-SR), three established tests of executive functions (FAS, Trail Making Test—part B [TMT-B] and Stroop), and self-ratings of executive abilities. Reliability of the FAB-Swe was measured using Cronbach’s alpha. Convergent validity was measured using Spearman’s rank correlation. Results Internal consistency was moderately high (.675). Statistically significant correlations were found between the FAB-Swe and MMSE-SR, FAS, TMT-B, Stroop, and education. No significant correlations were found between the FAB-Swe and age or self-rated executive functioning. Conclusions This study indicates that the FAB-Swe has acceptable reliability and convergent validity. Further normative studies are needed to further investigate the effect of age and educational level. Studies are also needed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy in clinical populations.