Children with moderate/severe brain damage/dysfunction outperform adults with mild-to-no brain damage on the Medical Symptom Validity Test.
OBJECTIVE
This study sought independent confirmation that the English computerized Medical Symptom Validity Test can be easily passed by children with moderate-to-severe brain injury/dysfunction (e.g. traumatic brain injury, stroke) and/or developmental disabilities. In addition, it was hypothesized that a higher percentage of such children would pass the MSVT compared to adults with mild traumatic brain injury or head injury (MTBI/HI) and would rate the task as easier.


METHODS
Thirty-eight children and 67 adults were administered the MSVT during an outpatient neuropsychological evaluation.


RESULTS
Two children (5%) failed the MSVT, whereas 14 (21%) of adults failed. Children performed significantly better on the MSVT and rated it as significantly easier compared to adults who failed the MSVT. There were no such differences when children were compared to adults who passed the MSVT.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings independently validate the use of the MSVT with children and demonstrate symptom exaggeration in a sub-set of adult MTBI/HI patients.
Carone
Dominic A
DA
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Neuropsychology Assessment Program, New York, USA. mail: caroned@upstate.edu
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001076:Aptitude; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D008306:Malingering / Q000523:psychology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D020521:Stroke / Q000523:psychology*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis