ABSTRACT

Assessment measures that quantify decision-making abilities in children and adolescents are limited. In the current study, a novel computerized Decision-Making Task (DMT), which identifies the process that is involved in decision-making, was developed based on an existing information-boards paradigm. The overall aim was to validate the DMT in a paediatric TBI population. This prospective study investigated the performance on the DMT for children post-TBI (n = 49; 7–15 years) compared to typically developing controls (n = 22; 7–15 years), and investigated the psychometric properties of the DMT by examining internal consistency-related reliability, convergent validity (measures of decision-making, working memory, functional outcomes, and behaviour), and divergent validity (vocabulary). Significant differences were detected for performance on the DMT between children post-TBI and the control group. Psychometric properties of the DMT were acceptable, with variable findings for convergent validity (working memory, functional outcomes, and behaviour). This is the first study to develop and investigate a novel computerised task to assess decision-making skills in a paediatric TBI population. Results cautiously suggest that the DMT is a valid and a reliable measure of decision-making in our clinical sample.

摘要

量化儿童和青少年决策能力的评估措施是有限的。在当前的研究中，基于现有的信息板范式开发了一种新颖的计算机化决策任务（DMT），它可以识别决策所涉及的过程。总体目标是在儿科 TBI 人群中验证 DMT。这项前瞻性研究调查了 TBI 后儿童（n  = 49；7-15 岁）与典型发育对照（n  = 22；7-15 岁）的 DMT 表现，并通过检查来研究 DMT 的心理测量特性。内部一致性相关的可靠性、收敛有效性（决策、工作记忆、功能结果和行为的衡量）和发散有效性（词汇）。TBI 后儿童和对照组儿童的 DMT 表现存在显着差异。DMT 的心理测量特性是可以接受的，但收敛有效性（工作记忆、功能结果和行为）的结果存在差异。这是第一项开发和调查新的计算机化任务来评估儿科 TBI 人群决策技能的研究。结果谨慎地表明，在我们的临床样本中，DMT 是一种有效且可靠的决策衡量标准。