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Screening for Neurocognitive Deficits in Pediatrics-the Clinical Utility of the Pediatric Perceived Cognitive
Marieke de Vries1,2, Jan Pieter Marchal3, Heleen Maurice-Stam4
1Department of Development & Education of Youth in Diverse Societies, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 1, 3584 CS, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Insights
The Pediatric Perceived Cognitive Functioning (PedsPCF) tool shows correlations with cognitive outcomes but has limited ability to identify specific deficits. It offers a subjective perspective complementing, not replacing, standard neurocognitive assessments in children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Neurocognition
- Psychometrics
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Efficient neurocognitive dysfunction screening is crucial for early intervention in pediatric populations.
- The Pediatric Perceived Cognitive Functioning (PedsPCF) item bank was developed to aid this screening process.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between PedsPCF scores and neurocognitive outcomes.
- To evaluate the discriminative value of PedsPCF scores against established neurocognitive measures and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Parent Report (BRIEF-P) in children.
Main Methods:
- Parent and self-report PedsPCF versions were administered alongside tailored neurocognitive testing in two Dutch pediatric hospitals.
- Pearson correlations were calculated between PedsPCF scores and five neurocognitive domains (DSM-5) and BRIEF-P.
- Discriminative values of PedsPCF deficit scores were assessed for neurocognitive and BRIEF-P deficits.
Main Results:
- The parent-report PedsPCF correlated with three neurocognitive domains and BRIEF-P but did not identify deficits.
- The self-report PedsPCF correlated with complex attention deficits and BRIEF-P, identifying only complex attention deficits.
Conclusions:
- The PedsPCF demonstrates correlations with neurocognitive outcomes but has limited discriminative value for identifying specific deficits.
- The PedsPCF provides a valuable subjective viewpoint to neurocognitive testing in children, serving as an adjunct rather than a replacement for comprehensive assessment.
Objective:
Efficient screening for neurocognitive dysfunction is pivotal for timely intervention in at-risk populations in pediatrics. The Pediatric Perceived Cognitive Functioning (PedsPCF) item bank was developed for this purpose. We aimed to explore the relationship between, and the discriminative value of PedsPCF scores with neurocognitive outcomes and the behavior rating inventory of executive function parent report (BRIEF) in a pediatric population.
Methods:
The PedsPCF parent- and self-report versions were added to neurocognitive testing batteries that were administered in clinical care or research in two Dutch academic pediatric hospitals. Most test batteries were individually tailored, resulting in a wide variety of measures. We determined Pearson correlations between the PedsPCF and neurocognitive test outcomes categorized into five neurocognitive domains as proposed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5, and the BRIEF-parent. Moreover, we assessed the discriminative values of PedsPCF deficit scores (M - 1 SD) for neurocognitive domain deficits (M - 1 SD) and the BRIEF-parent.
Results:
The PedsPCF was completed by 104 children and 106 parents. The parent-PedsPCF correlated with three neurocognitive domains and the BRIEF-parent but did not indicate deficits in any of the neurocognitive domains. The self-report PedsPCF correlated with a deficit in complex attention and the BRIEF-parent, and could indicate a deficit in complex attention only.
Conclusions:
Although the PedsPCF correlated with neurocognitive test outcomes, the discriminative value of the total score was limited. The short and freely available PedsPCF appears to add a useful subjective dimension to neurocognitive testing rather than a replacement of neurocognitive assessment.
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