Functional and Neuropsychological Abilities in Adults with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

Authors

  • Ada W.S. Leung Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Alberta, T6G 2G4, Canada and Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute, University of Alberta, T6G 2E1, Canada
  • Sharon E. Brintnell Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Alberta, T6G 2G4, Canada and Occupational Performance Analysis Unit, Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta, T6G 2G4, Canada
  • Kimberly D. Long Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Alberta, T6G 2G4, Canada
  • Xianzhi Chen Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Alberta, T6G 2G4, Canada and School of Social Development and Public Policy, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
  • Monty Nelson Department of Educational Psychology, University of Alberta, T6G 2E1, Canada

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12970/2310-8231.2016.04.01.3

Keywords:

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, neuropsychological assessment, functional assessment, cross-sectional study.

Abstract

Objective: This study investigated functional and neuropsychological abilities in adults with mild to moderate fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).

Method: Sixty-eight participants completed various neuropsychological tests such as the California Verbal Learning Test – 2nd edition (CVLT-2), Trail Making Test parts A and B (TMTA/TMTB), Stroop Color and Word Test (Stroop), Grooved Pegboard Test (GPT), Finger Tapping Test (FTT), and Independent Living Scales (ILS). Independent samples t-tests were used to compare performance between brain scores 2 and 3. Hierarchical logistic regression was used to identify predictors for brain scores.

Results: Adults with severe impairment (i.e., a brain score of 3) performed significantly worse than those with milder brain dysfunction (i.e., a brain score of 2) on TMTB, Stroop, CVLT-2, and ILS (money management, and managing home and transportation subscales). Test scores from the CVLT-2 (long-delay cued recall) and ILS (money management subscale) predicted brain scores.

Conclusions: Psychosocial ability remained low in all participants and should be assessed as a discrete factor for guiding interventions in adults. The results provided an important piece of reference in support of the inclusion of psycho-emotional elements in the new diagnostic guidelines for FASD.

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Published

2016-03-06

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2016)

Section

Articles