title: Treatment of mental slowness: how to evaluate treatment effects. A systematic review of outcome measures.
abstract: Brain-damaged patients with slow mental processes may be taught compensatory strategies that might enable them to minimise disabilities and participation problems in daily life. The effects of the application of compensatory strategies should be measured in these domains of functioning. We systematically reviewed existing outcome measures used to evaluate the consequences of mental slowness. We classified measures into four categories: (1) standardised neuropsychological tests; (2) tests or questionnaires measuring general cognitive impairment; (3) measures of general everyday functioning; and (4) measures of everyday consequences of mental slowness. The majority of measures for mental slowness focus on performance in specific cognitive tasks. We found seven studies that used nine measures which focused on task-related or perceived limitations in everyday functioning. We discuss a series of reasons why measures of the perception of slowness (including the perceived consequences of slowness) and the performance in everyday activities should be used. Such measures may be more likely to detect change or differences in performance and are certainly more relevant to patients.
authors.affiliation: School for Mental Health and Neurosciences, Maastricht University, The Netherlands. i.winkens@maastrichtuniversity.nl
authors.forename: Ieke
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Winkens
authors.forename: Caroline M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Van Heugten
authors.forename: Luciano
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fasotti
authors.forename: Derick T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Wade
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008606:Mental Processes; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis