Development and validation of revised battery for ECT-related cognitive deficits (B4ECT ReCoDe).

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience and Psychology
• Psychometric Assessment

Background:

• The original B4ECT ReCode Battery was created 10 years ago to assess cognitive impairments linked to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).
• This study aimed to develop and validate an updated version of the battery to improve cognitive assessment in ECT patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To revise and validate the B4ECT ReCode Battery for evaluating cognitive function in patients undergoing electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).
• To ensure the revised battery is reliable, feasible, and captures relevant cognitive domains affected by ECT.

Main Methods:

• Literature review and focus groups identified relevant cognitive domains and limitations of the original battery.
• A draft of the revised battery was developed and validated using the Delphi method with expert ratings.
• The revised battery was administered to 60 participants undergoing bifrontal brief-pulse ECT to assess its psychometric properties.

Main Results:

• The revised battery includes letter and category fluency, omitting processing speed and working memory tasks.
• Significant declines were observed in category fluency, letter fluency, subjective memory, and autobiographical memory.
• High inter-rater reliability (Cohen's kappa: 0.794-0.923) and intraclass correlation (0.899-0.925) were achieved, with a 91.67% completion rate.

Conclusions:

• The revised B4ECT ReCoDe Battery demonstrates good content validity, inter-rater reliability, and feasibility.
• The findings align with known cognitive effects of ECT, supporting its utility in clinical and research settings.
• This preliminary validation provides a strong basis for future research on ECT-related cognitive changes.