Acquired brain injury, visual attention, and the useful field of view test: A pilot study.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the findings of the Useful Field of View (UFOV) test with those of conventional neuropsychologic tests to determine the utility of the UFOV test as a measure of attention in a population with brain injury.


METHODS
Cohort study.


METHODS
Freestanding rehabilitation hospital.


METHODS
Fifteen inpatients with severe brain injury.


METHODS
Not applicable.


METHODS
UFOV test, FIM\T instrument, length of stay (LOS), and standard neuropsychologic testing.


RESULTS
The UFOV subtest UF2 correlated strongly with the other 2 subtests, UF1 and UF3. The UF2 subtest correlated most strongly with paper and pencil tests of visual attention. The UF2 predicted 52% of the FIM change and 60% of the LOS variance, second only to admission FIM score, which predicted 75% and 80% of FIM change and LOS variance, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Among the patients in our study, the UFOV test can be used to determine the visual divided attention of patients with acquired brain injury. The results also showed that the UFOV test correlated with LOS and FIM change in patients with acquired brain injury recovering in a rehabilitation facility. Because the UFOV test is much more quickly administered and scored than other measures of attention and divided attention, these results suggest that the UFOV test may provide an easy means to measure a critical variable in the population with head injury.
Calvanio
Ron
R
Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Williams
Rebecca
R
Burke
David T
DT
Mello
Jennifer
J
Lepak
Paige
P
Al-Adawi
Samir
S
Shah
Mrugeshkumar K
MK
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*