Validation of Spanish Erasmus-Modified Nottingham Sensory Assessment Stereognosis Scale in Acquired Brain Damage

Abstract

Acquired brain injury (ABI) is the third leading cause of death in Spain. The disability derived from ABI can include considerable difficulties in upper-limb use due to somatosensory deficits. One of the assessments most commonly used to evaluate ABI is the Nottingham Sensory Assessment (NSA); however, there is no complete psychometric analysis or standardized version in Spanish. We aimed to develop and validate a Spanish version of the stereognosis component of the NSA for evaluating Spanish adults with ABI via a single-center, observational, cross-sectional study. The Spanish version of the NSA was developed in two steps. The first was based on the standardization and collection of normative data in 120 asymptomatic participants. For the second, we recruited 25 participants with ABI to establish concurrent criterion-related validity, internal consistency, and floor/ceiling effects. Criterion validity was assessed against two-point discrimination and tactile-localization tests. Our normative data showed significant differences among the various age groups (p < 0.05), supporting the validity of the Spanish-version assessment. For the ABI sample, we also found further evidence of validity with Spearman’s rho coefficient between the total scores and the two-point discrimination and tactile-localization tests, which showed low and moderate correlations (rho = 0.50–0.75, p < 0.05). Internal consistency was excellent, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.91. No ceiling or floor effects were found. We conclude that the stereognosis component of the NSA in its Spanish version is a valid scale that can be used to comprehensively and accurately assess stereognosis capacity in adults with ABI. As a low-cost evaluation, this assessment has great potential to be widely used in clinical practice and research settings.

Spanish consensus of occupational therapists on upper limb assessment tools in stroke

“…In 2006, Stolk-Hornsveld et al (2006) improved the inter-rater reliability of the NSA through the Erasmus MC modifications (EmNSA). Recently, validation studies of the EmNSA for the UL have been published in various countries (Villepinte et al, 2019; Zamarro-Rodríguez et al, 2021); thus, its use is increasing compared with the original version. The systematic review by Connell and Tyson (2011) studied the psychometric properties and clinical utility (in terms of administration, cost and portability) of sensory assessment tools in neurological conditions.…”

Unilateral tactile agnosia as an onset symptom of corticobasal syndrome

“…At the first neuropsychological visit in 2021, at the 6-month postsurgical follow-up, we administered an extensive neuropsychological assessment (see Table 1) and found right-hand ideomotor apraxia (Tessari et al, 2013) and difficulties in right-hand haptic object recognition measured through the stereognosis subtest of the Nottingham Sensory Assessment (Lincoln et al, 1998). As the standardization of this subtest for the Italian population is missing, we referred to Spanish normative data (Zamarro-Rodríguez et al, 2021), for which only the right-hand score was deficient. It is important to point out that the clinical evaluation showed a slowdown and clumsiness of the movements in the right hand.…”