Post-Exertion Neuropsychological Testing in the Management of Sport-Related Concussion
The objective of this study was to determine the effect of physical exertion on computerized neuropsychological test performance in high school athletes as part of concussion return-to-play protocols. ImPACT data and consultation records were retrospectively reviewed among athletes undergoing their physical stepwise progression for return-to-play following sport-related concussion. Two hundred forty athletes met inclusion criteria and participated in the study. 36.7% of concussed athletes who were symptom-free and had reached an advanced stage of their return-to-play protocol demonstrated cognitive decline following a mode...
Source: Psychological Injury and Law - May 24, 2019 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
Use of Validity Indicators on the Personality Assessment Inventory to Detect Feigning of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
This study examined the ability of several Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) validity indicators to detect feigning of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Participants included 491 individuals recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTURK): 44 participants were asked to feign PTSD, 25 participants carried a diagnosis of PTSD and demonstrated at least moderate levels of current symptom, and 422 served as control subjects. Results indicated that all of the PAI negative distortion validity indicators significantly distinguished the true PTSD from the feigned PTSD group. The indicators with the largest effect sizes w...
Source: Psychological Injury and Law - May 5, 2019 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
Expert Witnesses, Dissociative Amnesia, and Extraordinary Remembering: Response to Brand et al.
(Source: Psychological Injury and Law)
Source: Psychological Injury and Law - February 9, 2019 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
A Critical Analysis of the Nelson Denny Reading Test as a Method of Identifying Reading Impairment in Adults
AbstractDisability-related test accommodations are requested frequently, especially at the postsecondary level and on licensing examinations. Access to such accommodations typically relies on proof of impairment in some area of academic functioning. The Nelson Denny Reading Test (NDRT; Brown, Fishco,& Hanna,1993a,1993b) is often employed by clinicians in order to demonstrate the need for extra time accommodation. The NDRT employs grade-based norms, meaning that postsecondary and graduate-level students who take the test are compared not with all of their same-aged peers but rather to a rarefied group of individuals who...
Source: Psychological Injury and Law - February 2, 2019 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
Development and Initial Validation of a Reading-Specific Performance Validity Test: the College Assessment of Reading Effort (CARE)
AbstractAlthough performance validity tests (PVTs) are routinely used in neuropsychological assessment to detect malingering or low-effort test-taking, they are seldom administered to college students seeking academic accommodations and other benefits for reading disabilities. Previous research indicates that between 9.5 and 31% of students seeking learning disability evaluations at university-based clinics provide noncredible test scores indicative of symptom exaggeration or low effort. We developed a brief reading –specific PVT designed for college students participating in reading disability testing: the College Asses...
Source: Psychological Injury and Law - February 1, 2019 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
Forensic Thinking in Disability Assessment: an Introduction to a Special Issue
(Source: Psychological Injury and Law)
Source: Psychological Injury and Law - January 31, 2019 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
Psychometric Characteristics of the Persian Version of the Injustice Experience Questionnaire
AbstractThe present study aimed to determine the psychometric characteristics of the Persian version of the Injustice Experience Questionnaire (IEQ-P). Data were collected from 230 participants (122 females and 108 males between 20 and 60 years of age) with chronic musculoskeletal pain. Principal component analysis was used to test the factor structure of the questionnaire. Construct validity was assessed by investigating Pearson correlations among the IEQ-P and other related questionnaires. Internal consistency was indicated by Cronbach’s alpha, and test-retest reliability was examined through the intraclass correlat...
Source: Psychological Injury and Law - January 31, 2019 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
Conducting Disability Evaluations with a Forensic Perspective: the Application of Criminal Responsibility Evaluation Guidelines
AbstractAlthough the goals of disability and criminal responsibility evaluations differ greatly, both evaluations require determining whether an individual evidences genuine impairment that aligns with a legal definition and the extent to which mental health symptoms impact the individual ’s functioning. Recommendations for how to conduct criminal responsibility evaluations often include a multi-step process for completing an objective evaluation that thoroughly addresses the clinical and legal issues at hand. Forensic recommendations also emphasize the need to evaluate the extent to which reported symptoms are genuine a...
Source: Psychological Injury and Law - January 31, 2019 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
Transit Migration and Trauma: the Detrimental Effect of Interpersonal Trauma on Syrian Children in Transit in Italy
AbstractFollowing the humanitarian crisis caused by the Syrian war, the shortages in European Union ’s reception system exposed numerous children to a prolonged period of transit within frontier countries (e.g., Italy), during which they were considered “invisible” and received no legal recognition and protection. This situation offered a unique possibility to study the psychological dimensi ons involved in the elaboration of trauma during a migratory journey characterized by the lack of reception services. The present study, conducted on a group of Syrian children (n = 271) in transit to Italy with their familie...
Source: Psychological Injury and Law - January 31, 2019 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
Disability Evaluation for Accommodation on Licensing Exams Based on the ADA: Why Do Clinicians Fail to Adopt a Forensic Perspective?
AbstractThe legal basis for receiving exam accommodation within postsecondary educational environments, on university entrance exams and licensing exams, is the ADA. Even when evaluations are conducted to recommend accommodation on licensing exams, where a clear forensic perspective should be the norm, this perspective is not routinely adopted. To explain why the gap between suggested and actual practice continues to be so wide, these types of accommodation-focused evaluations are contrasted with two other areas of forensic evaluation practice, competency to stand trial and worker ’s compensation disability, for which a ...
Source: Psychological Injury and Law - January 28, 2019 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
Pinpointing Disability Accommodation Needs: What Evidence Is Most Relevant?
AbstractDiagnosticians who recommend educational accommodations for postsecondary students with learning, cognitive, and psychiatric disabilities often reference specific diagnostic test scores as a basis for the recommended accommodations. Moreover, accommodation decision-makers often follow diagnosticians ’ lead and/or rely on the diagnostic scores themselves to make and justify accommodation determinations. The present paper considers the ecological validity of these diagnostic test scores, focusing on their generalizability across time, setting, and dimension of performance. A wide variety of res earch suggests a nee...
Source: Psychological Injury and Law - January 26, 2019 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
Extra Time or Unused Time? What Data from a College Testing Center Tells Us About 50% Extra Time as an Accommodation for Students with Learning Disabilities
AbstractRecent directives from legislative bodies in the USA and Canada assert that self-report and previous experience should constitute the basis from which accommodations are determined for students with disabilities (SWDs). Extended time for tests is a highly requested accommodation; postsecondary institutions have focused on 50% additional time as a universal starting point. However, the limited research on the issue of extended time has mostly drawn inferences to real-life test situations from studies employing simulated testing situations and participants with self-reported disability status. Archival data from 825 ...
Source: Psychological Injury and Law - January 19, 2019 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
Correction to: Further Validation of the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) Trial 1 Performance Validity Index: Examination of False Positives and Convergent Validity
Correction of mistake in the original version of this paper, “Further Validation of the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) Trial 1 Performance Validity Index: Examination of False Positives and Convergent Validity”, the sentence “As indicated in Table 7, TOMM T1 ≤ 40 exhibited sensitivity of .86. (Source: Psychological Injury and Law)
Source: Psychological Injury and Law - November 27, 2018 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
The Grooved Pegboard Test as a Validity Indicator —a Study on Psychogenic Interference as a Confound in Performance Validity Research
This study was designed to replicate an earlier report on the link between low scores on the Grooved Pegboard test (GPB), invalid responding, and elevated self-reported psychiatric symptoms. A fixed battery of neuropsychological tests was administered to 100 consecutively referred outpatients (MAge = 38.3,MEducation = 13.6 years) following traumatic brain injury at a Midwestern academic medical center. Classification accuracy of GPB validity cutoffs was computed against a free-standing PVT and three composite measures of embedded validity indicators. Previously suggested GPB validity cutoffs (T ≤ 29 in eithe...
Source: Psychological Injury and Law - November 10, 2018 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
Trauma-Related Dissociation Is No Fantasy: Addressing the Errors of Omission and Commission in Merckelbach and Patihis (2018)
AbstractDissociation is commonly a response to trauma that can be associated with significant impairment. In order to deal with dissociation in court from a comprehensive, scientifically informed, and valid perspective, Brand, Schielke, and Brams (Psychological Injury and Law, 10, 283-297,2017a,b) provided a balanced view of dissociation, its characteristics, evidence base, and best assessment practices. Without an approach such as this, forensic experts risk having insufficient knowledge in its causation, phenomenology, and assessment and accordingly misunderstand trauma-related dissociation (TRD). Brand et al. (Psycholog...
Source: Psychological Injury and Law - November 6, 2018 Category: Medical Law Source Type: research
