Can J Occup Ther. 2004 Feb;71(1):47-55
Birnboim S.
Occupational Therapy Department, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health
Studies Haifa University, Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel, 31905
PURPOSE:
Having a method of testing strategy application abilities provides important information for occupational performance.
The goal of the present study was to investigate the discriminate validity of a strategy application test.
This test measures the ability to apply and maintain a working strategy for efficient execution of tasks.
The advantages of this test are that it is standardized, short, simple to administer, and applicable to various clinical populations.
METHOD:
Five different groups of participants were studied: senior healthy people, children affected by attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, people with multiple sclerosis or with depression and schizophrenia.
All of these individuals had some frontal lobe involvement, thus suggesting possible executive dysfunction.
RESULTS:
As hypothesized, the results demonstrated strategy application skill impairment in all the clinical groups, as well as a gradual decline in strategy application abilities with advanced aging.
PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS:
These results exhibit the discriminate validity of the strategy application test and add to the accumulating evidence of executive dysfunction in these populations.