title: Ecological validity of neuropsychological assessment and perceived employability.
abstract: Ecological validity studies that have examined the relationship between cognitive abilities and employment in psychiatric and medical populations have found that a wide range of cognitive domains predict employability, although memory and executive skills appear to be the most important. However, no information is available regarding a patient's self-perceived work attributes and objective neuropsychological performance, and whether the same cognitive domains associated with successful employment are also related to a patient's self-perception of work competence. In the present study, 73 medical and psychiatric patients underwent comprehensive neuropsychological assessment. Step-wise multiple regression analyses revealed that the visual-spatial domain was the only significant predictor of self-perceived work attributes and work competence as measured by the Working Inventory (WI) and the Work Adjustment Inventory (WAI), accounting for 7% to 10% of inventory score variability. The results raise the intriguing possibility that targeting of visual spatial skills for remediation and development might play a separate and unique role in the vocational rehabilitation of a lower SES population, specifically, by leading to enhanced self-perception of work competence as these individuals attempt to enter the job market.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and Los Angeles Biomedical Institute, CA 90509, USA.
authors.forename: Johnny H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.forename: Kyle
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Boone
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004864:Equipment and Supplies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013223:Statistics as Topic