Abstract

The Mesulam Cancellation Test is a low cost, quick measure used to screen for hemispatial inattention. The task is also useful for observing a patient’s organizational approach. We developed a method to quantify the organizational strategy used by patients in completing this visual scanning task. In this study, we evaluated the reliability of the new method. Participants were 40 patients seen in an outpatient neuropsychology clinic. The 34 men, 5 women, and 1 transitioning individual had a mean age of 49 (SD = 13.94), and mean education of 13.59 years (SD = 2.15). Two raters blinded to patient information provided independent ratings of organization using our new scoring method. Scores ranged from 1 to 5 based on increasing organization. Cohen’s weighted Kappa and Spearman’s rank order correlation indicated good interrater reliability (Κ(weighted) = .84; r_s = .89). The average absolute difference between the raters was .25 (SD = .54). We also found preliminary evidence for the validity of the organizational measure. This study supports the reliability of this new embedded measure of organization. A next step will be to gather normative data, to further establish its validity, and to assess the reliability of the scoring system with other cancellation tests.

摘要

Mesulam 取消测试是一种低成本、快速的测量方法，用于筛查半空间注意力不集中。该任务对于观察患者的组织方法也很有用。我们开发了一种方法来量化患者在完成此视觉扫描任务时使用的组织策略。在这项研究中，我们评估了新方法的可靠性。参与者是在门诊神经心理学诊所就诊的 40 名患者。34 名男性、5 名女性和 1 名过渡个体的平均年龄为 49 岁（SD = 13.94），平均受教育年限为 13.59 岁（SD = 2.15）。两名对患者信息视而不见的评分者使用我们的新评分方法对组织进行了独立评分。根据组织的增加，分数从 1 到 5 不等。r _s = .89)。评分者之间的平均绝对差异为 0.25 (SD = .54)。我们还发现了组织测量有效性的初步证据。这项研究支持这种新的嵌入式组织测量的可靠性。下一步将是收集规范数据，进一步确定其有效性，并评估评分系统与其他取消测试的可靠性。