NORMATIVE DATA FOR NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS WITH AFRICAN AMERICANS

这项拟议研究的目的是为非裔美国成年人开发标准化的神经心理测试，这些测试通常在社会经济结构(SES)的低端代表过多，在那里可能有更大的创伤性脑损伤(TBI)风险。研究表明，社会经济地位较低的人更有可能持续脑损伤。脑外伤产生各种认知和行为缺陷，可以通过神经心理测试来识别，这可以帮助制定特定的康复策略，使个人在获得性脑损伤后继续发挥职业和社会功能。标准化测试的一个长期存在的问题是缺乏针对非欧洲裔美国人的足够的标准化测试数据。跨文化心理学和心理测量学心理学家建议，理想情况下，应该对不同种族群体使用单独的标准数据，就像对其他人口因素(例如，年龄、性别等)所做的那样。这项研究建议对60名急性脑损伤后的非裔美国人患者和100名非裔美国人骨科和脊髓患者进行一系列神经心理学测试，这些测试通常用于评估定向、注意力集中、言语和语言、知觉过程、记忆和新学习。这项临床研究的目的是开发标准化数据，用于评估非洲裔美国人患者的临床环境。

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.