Aligning formal and functional assessments of Visuospatial Neglect: A mixed-methods study

The occurrence of visuospatial neglect acts as a key predictor of recovery outcome following stroke. However, the specific behavioural profiles associated with various neglect subtypes are not well understood. This study aims to identify real-world functional impairments associated with neglect, to determine whether functional impairment profiles differ across patients with egocentric and allocentric neglect, and to investigate how neglect severity predicts functional impairments.

Notes from 290 stroke patients’ occupational therapy functional assessments were qualitatively and quantitatively analysed in the context of neglect type and severity as reported by the OCS Cancellation Task. Overall, neglect patients had more references to having difficulty initiating tasks, finding items, exhibiting spatial inattention, and having difficulty using both arms than patients without neglect. The proportion of theme references did not differ significantly across patients with egocentric and allocentric neglect. The quantitative severity of egocentric neglect was acted as a significant predictor of reference occurrence over and above stroke severity within difficulty finding items, spatial inattention, body inattention, and upper limb use.

This study expands on previous findings by identifying real-world functional impairments differentiating patients with and without neglect. This data provides novel insight into the impact of neglect on functional abilities.