title: Is the patient able to watch TV or read the newspaper? A functional semi-structured scale to observe Hemineglect symptoms in Activities of Daily Living (H-ADL).
abstract: We developed a functional semi-structured scale to observe Hemineglect symptoms in Activities of Daily Living (H-ADL). The scale could assist clinicians in assessing rehabilitation priorities aimed at correcting any persisting errors or omissions. In addition, the scale could also be used by caregivers to observe patients' progress and improve their participation. Two groups of right brain-damaged patients (25 with hemineglect; 27 without hemineglect) were tested twice: at admission and before discharge from hospital. A control group of healthy individuals matched to patients for age and education and patients' caregivers also participated. Two raters (A; B), experts in neuropsychology, observed patients and healthy individuals using the H-ADL. We found that the H-ADL final scores correlated with the standard hemineglect tests. The three groups differed in performance and differences also emerged between the first and the second assessment, suggesting an improvement due to the remission of hemineglect as a consequence of the treatment. Raters A and B did not differ in their observations, but there were some discrepancies with caregivers' observations. Therefore, although caregivers could help clinicians in detecting persistent hemineglect behaviour, the assessment should be performed by experts in neuropsychology.
authors.affiliation: a Life, Health and Environmental Science Department , University of L'Aquila , L'Aquila , Italy.|b Neuropsychology Unit, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Piccardi
authors.affiliation: b Neuropsychology Unit, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Magnotti
authors.affiliation: b Neuropsychology Unit, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia , Rome , Italy.|c Psychology Department , University "Sapienza" , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tanzilli
authors.affiliation: a Life, Health and Environmental Science Department , University of L'Aquila , L'Aquila , Italy.|d Post-Coma Unit, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aloisi
authors.affiliation: e Dipartimento Scienze dell'Uomo e della Società, Università degli Studi di Enna "Kore" , Enna , Italy.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Guariglia
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D018437:Brown-Sequard Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011932:Reading; D013223:Statistics as Topic
keywords: Caregivers; ecological assessment; everyday life; functional evaluation; heminattention; left neglect