Development and validity of the Brain Injury Alert (BI Alert) screening tool for cognitive, emotional and social problems after paediatric acquired brain injury

Purpose: Validation of a new screening tool, viz., the Brain Injury Alert (BI Alert) for identification of cognitive and emotional problems after traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children.

Methods: Parents and teachers of children with TBI as well as controls were interviewed using the BI Alert. Validity was determined using reference instruments (CBCL and TRF; neuropsychological functioning).

Results: The BI Alert was feasible; Required assessment time: 15 minutes. Parents and teachers of children with TBI (n = 42) reported significantly more problems compared to controls (n = 29). Internal consistency (alpha = 0.68 for parents and 0.82 for teachers) and inter-rater reliability (r > 0.66) were good. Test-re-test reliability was reasonable (r > 0.46). Correlations with CBCL were statistically significant for the parents (r range from 0.36-0.66) and TRF emotion for the teachers (r = 0.62). The correlations with the TRF cognition and school were statistically significant for the teachers (r range from 0.43-0.63). There were only low correlations with the neuropsychological tests.

Conclusions: The BI Alert is a useful, feasible and valid instrument for the cognitive screening of children with TBI by health professionals in primary care.