Validity and Reliability of the Persian Version of the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to ascertain the validity and reliability of the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods: This study was conducted in a methodological, cross-sectional and prospective design. The study recruited 65 patients with TBI from the university rehabilitation centers in Tehran, Iran and matched them with 65 healthy participants in terms of age and sex. Concurrent validity was evaluated using Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Stroop Color and Word Test (SCWT). The discriminant validity was evaluated through a comparison of the mean FAB scores between healthy participants and patients with TBI. The reliability was assessed with the analyses of internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and inter-judges reliability. Data was analyzed in SPSS V. 22 software. Results: FAB score in patients did not vary with age, sex and education. There was a significant correlation between the FAB score and MMSE (r=0.791, p<0.001) and also various executive measures: the number of categories achieved (r=0.745, p<0.001) and the number of perseveration errors (r=0.307, p<0.05) in the WCST and all parts of the Stroop test (p<0.001), except the interference score (p>0.05). The FAB exhibited acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s α: 0.863) and also good test-retest (r=0.882, 95%CI = 0.77–0.95) and inter-judges reliability (r=0.994, 95%CI = 0.77–0.95). A cut-off of 15 for the total FAB score yielded the highest sensitivity (0.93) and specificity (0.90) to discriminate between patients with TBI and healthy participants. Conclusion: Our present study shows that the Persian version of the FAB is an easy, quick and confident tool for the screening of executive dysfunction in patients with TBI.