Chessington Occupational Therapy Neurological Assessment Battery: Comparison of performance of people aged 50–65 years with people aged 66 years and over

Abstract

Australia's elderly population is rapidly increasing in size and the incidence of stroke increases with age. Cognitive and perceptual deficits are common following stroke. The Chessington Occupational Therapy Neurological Assessment Battery (COTNAB) used by occupational therapists to assess these deficits until quite recently only provided normative data for people aged 16–65 years. This study aimed to determine if there were significant differences in COTNAB scores and times between unimpaired people aged 50–65 years and unimpaired people aged 66 years and over. A convenience method of sampling was used to recruited 23 subjects in the 50–65 year age group and 17 subjects in the 66 years and over age group. A two‐group comparison of scores and times on the COTNAB was conducted. Results of the study supported the hypothesis that unimpaired individuals aged 66 years and over would exhibit poorer performance achieving lower mean scores and longer mean times on the COTNAB. Gender differences in performance revealed that males were favoured in several sub‐tests. It is suggested that this study should be replicated using a larger sample.