Reliable change in pediatric brain tumor: A preliminary investigation. Issue 1 (2nd January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Duda, Thomas A.; Ris, M. Douglas; Yeates, Keith Owen; Mahone, E. Mark; Haut, Jennifer S.; Raghubar, Kimberly P.
• Is Part Of: Child neuropsychology. Volume 26:Issue 1(2020)
• Page Start: 15
• Page End: 26
• Publication Date: 2020-01-02
• Subjects: Pediatric -- brain tumor -- reliable change index -- intelligence -- WISC; Pediatric neuropsychology -- Periodicals; Adolescent psychology -- Periodicals; Child development deviations -- Periodicals; Child psychology -- Periodicals; 618.92805
• DOI: 10.1080/09297049.2019.1620715
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0929-7049

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Children treated for brain tumor show evidence of declines in general intellectual abilities (i.e., IQ). Group-level data indicate subtle declines over time on average, but no study has utilized a clinical criterion to identify and describe a reliable change in survivors of pediatric brain tumor (PBT). In this study, we discuss the utility of reliable change index (RCI) methodology to supplement group-level analysis (e.g., repeated measures ANOVA). This pilot sample consisted of 22 children ( M age = 10.47 years) treated for PBT who completed initial and follow-up assessments ( M interval = 23.58 months). Cognitive data included composite scores from the WISC-IV. An RCI z -score was calculated for each participant on each composite score based on two different test–retest reliability coefficients. As a group, survivors of PBT did not demonstrate a statistically significant change from initial to follow-up on any WISC-IV composite score. When RCI was calculated based on reliability coefficients with shorter test–retest intervals provided by the test publisher, 77% of survivors demonstrated a reliable change in performance on at least one measure. The frequency of RCI decreases in working memory was significantly higher than expected. In contrast, only 32% of survivors showed reliable changes on at least one measure when RCI was based on a reliability coefficient derived from a clinical sample with a longer retest interval. This study demonstrates that highly divergent results may be obtained with RCI and the importance of the source of reliability estimates.