Self-appraisal: Estimates of intellectual performance for persons with Acquired Brain Injury

Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) limits a survivor's ability to appraise their task performance. There are, however, few measures of self-appraisal.

This study developed a technique for measuring self-appraisal originally proposed by Wilbur, Wilk, Silver, and Parente (2008).

A multivariate model of self-appraisal that includes measures of predicted performance as well as measures of over- and under-estimation of performance was evaluated with ABI survivors, participants with diagnosed learning disabilities, and others with emotional impairments to determine which measures were the most sensitive to the differences among the groups.

This model provided a more accurate assessment of self-appraisal than the one previously proposed by Wilbur et al. (2008). The two measures of self-appraisal measure different psychological processes, and the overall model measures aspects of performance that are unrelated to an individual's IQ. A measure of over- or under-estimation of performance was the most sensitive component of the model.

Self-appraisal is a multi-dimensional concept, with at least two main components. The findings corroborate previous literature suggesting that persons with ABI have difficulty accurately assessing their task performance resulting in inflated performance judgments. This self-appraisal technique can be applied to most assessments of performance.