NORMATIVE DATA FOR NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS WITH AFRICAN AMERICANS

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The purpose of the proposed study is to develop normative neuropsychological tests for African-American adults that are generally over-represented at the lower end of the socioeconomic structure (SES) where there may be greater risk of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Studies have shown that individuals of lower SES have a greater likelihood of sustaining a TBI. TBI produces a variety of cognitive and behavioral deficits that can be identified through neuropsychological testing which can assist in the development of specific rehabilitative strategies that will allow individuals to continue to function occupationally and socially following acquired brain injury. One long standing issue with standardized testing has been the lack of adequate normative test data for non-European-Americans. Cross-cultural psychological and psychometric psychologists suggest that ideally separate normative data should be used for different racial group as in done with other demographic factors (e.g., age, gender, etc.). This study proposes to administer a series of neuropsychological tests commonly used to evaluate orientation,, attention-concentration, speech and language, perceptual processes, and memory and new learning, to 60 post- acute African-American patients with TBI and 100 African-American orthopedic and spinal cord patients. The purpose of this clinical study is to develop normative data to be used in clinical setting when evaluating African-American patients.