title: Assessing executive performance during cognitive rehabilitation.
abstract: Executive functioning influences a host of other cognitive processes and people who attend neuropsychological services are more likely to display executive dysfunction than any other cognitive deficit (Stuss & Levine, 2002). Impairment in executive functioning disrupts a person's ability to effectively employ their intact areas of functioning, and undermines effective self-management of other areas of dysfunction, hampering attempts to employ compensatory strategies. Therefore, assessment of a person's executive functioning is a high priority as part of a comprehensive neurorehabilitation plan. Guided by the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health model (ICF model; Peterson, 2005), we suggest that an important development in the field is moving to formal assessment of executive performance in functional contexts, in addition to more traditional assessment of executive impairment. We outline a number of existing studies in this area, review current measures that can provide clinicians with useful information on these issues, and discuss how this research could be further advanced.
authors.affiliation: Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Mark W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Duncan R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Babbage
authors.forename: Janet M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Leathem
mesh_terms: D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D056344:Executive Function; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires