Adapting a Neurocognitive Test in Zimbabwe: The Birmingham Cognitive Screen

The Birmingham Cognitive Screen (BCoS) is a recently developed western neurocognitive battery that assesses functioning across multiple cognitive domains.

In this study, we investigated the performance of BCoS on a Zimbabwean sample of neurologically intact participants with the aim of identifying culturally sensitive items as an initial step towards adapting it for use on Zimbabwean patients. A convenient sample of normal participants (n=80; mean age = 29.9 yrs. SD = 9.24) was tested on the BCoS screen. A difficulty index for each BCoS item was calculated to assess for test item appropriateness. Items with an index value of p≤.30 were considered difficult, and those with an index value of p≥.80 were deemed easy. Inter-rater and test-re-test reliability was determined. Difficult items were removed and replaced, or adjusted. Regression based procedures were used to adjust for influences of age, sex and education on the neuropsychological test.