Domains and measures of social cognition in acquired brain injury: A scoping review

In acquired brain injury (ABI), social cognition is a contributing factor to the changes observed in functional outcomes. However, progress in assessing and understanding social cognitive impairments is limited by a lack of consistency in terminology and the proliferation in assessment tools, leading to a lack of consensus on what should be assessed and how. This review aims to examine the domains of social cognition commonly assessed in ABI, the assessment tools used, and the appropriateness of these tools for researchers and clinicians. Using the Arksey and O'Malley scoping review methodology, 367 articles reporting results from 10,930 people with an ABI met our inclusion criteria. The five most commonly assessed domains of social cognition were emotion perception, theory of mind, social communication, identity recognition and empathy. The most commonly used measure of these domains included: the Ekman and Friesen photo series, Faux Pas Recognition Test, La Trobe Communication Questionnaire, Benton Facial Recognition Test and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. There are well-validated measures readily available that are underused in favour of non-standardized measures clinically or the development of one's own measure in research. The appropriateness of the identified measure for research and clinical use was discussed, including suggestions for future research.