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Abstract
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PURPOSE:To examine the relationship between exerted effort, grade point average (GPA), age, and concussion variables during baseline testing.
Methods:
A total of 230 high school students completed effort testing. Pearson correlations and one-way analyses of variance were calculated to determine the relationship between effort, GPA, age, and Immediate Post Assessment Concussion Test composite and Balance Error Scoring System scores.
Results:
Of 49 participants, 21% exerted poor effort. There were statistically significant differences between effort and visual motor speed (F(1,229) = 3.92, P >.001), reaction time (F(1,229) = 7.29, P >.001), and BESS scores (F(1, 229) = 6.68, P =.025), but no significant correlations between effort, GPA, and age (P >.05).
Conclusions:
This study found that poor effort and age decreased performance on neuropsychological tests; however, no relationship existed between effort, GPA, and age. Clinicians need an objective effort measure to validate test scores. If participants exert sufficient effort, clinical interpretations can be made without consideration of GPA or age as a confounding variable.
Language: en |