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Updated: May 26, 2026
Virtual Reality Tools for Assessing Unilateral Spatial Neglect: A Novel Opportunity for Data Collection
Published on: March 10, 2021
Psychometric evaluation of neglect assessment reveals motor-exploratory predictor of functional disability in
Kelly M Goedert1, Peii Chen, Amanda Botticello
1Department of Psychology, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ 07079, USA. kelly.goedert@shu.edu
Objective:
To determine the psychometric properties of 2 neglect measures, the Behavioral Inattention Test (BIT)-conventional and the Catherine Bergego Scale (CBS), in acute spatial neglect. Spatial neglect is a failure or slowness to respond, orient, or initiate action toward contralesional stimuli, associated with functional disability that impedes stroke recovery. Early identification of specific neglect deficits may identify patients likely to experience chronic disability. However, psychometric evaluation of assessments has focused on subacute/chronic populations.
Design:
Correlational/psychometric study.
Setting:
Inpatient rehabilitation hospital.
Participants:
Screening identified 51 consecutive patients with a right-hemisphere stroke with left neglect (BIT score <129 or CBS score >11) tested an average of 22.3 days poststroke.
Interventions:
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures:
We obtained BIT, CBS, and Barthel Index assessments for each participant and clinical and laboratory measures of perceptual-attentional and motor-intentional deficits.
Results:
The BIT showed good reliability and loaded onto a single factor. Consistent with our theoretical prediction, principal components analysis of the CBS identified 2 underlying factors: Where perceptual-attentional items (CBS-PA) and embodied, motor-exploratory items (CBS-ME). The CBS-ME uniquely predicted deficits in activities of daily living (ADLs) assessed by using the Barthel Index, but did not predict clinical and laboratory assessments of motor-intentional bias. More severe neglect on the CBS-PA correlated with greater Where perceptual-attentional bias on clinical and laboratory tests, but did not uniquely predict deficits in ADLs.
Conclusions:
Our results indicate that assessments of spatial neglect may be used to detect specific motor-exploratory deficits in spatial neglect. Obtaining CBS-ME scores routinely might improve the detection of acute-stage patients with spatial action deficits requiring increased assistance that may persist to the chronic stage.
