Authors: Alice Emond Lesley Edwards Samantha Peacock Catherine Norman Michael Evangeli
Publish Date: 2016/06/16
Volume: 24, Issue: 11, Pages: 4587-4595
Abstract
A crosssectional mixed within and between group design was used to compare a paediatric BT survivor group n = 33 with an agematched control group n = 34 on two multiinformant selfreport parent teacher social competence questionnaires Social Skills Improvement System SSIS and Social Responsiveness Scale SRS Demographic factors age gender social economic status SES intellectual ability and emotional/behavioural difficulties were investigated as potential noninsultrelated risk factorsCompared to controls the BT group was reported to have difficulties in social adjustment interactions and information processing on both social competence questionnaire measures by parents and teachers but not selfreport Social competence scores for the BT group were broadly distributed within the normalsevere clinical range with 40 of BT survivors scoring in the clinical range for social competence difficulties on the SRS Lower intellectual ability and emotional/behavioural difficulties accounted for some of the group differences in social competence but group effects remained once estimated IQ and emotional/behavioural difficulties were controlled forPaediatric BT survivors were reported by parents and teachers to have significant difficulties at all three levels of social competence adjustment interaction and information processing The results highlight the importance of routine assessment in clinic settings for social competence and emotional/behavioural difficulties in BT survivors to promote early identification and to ensure that survivors are referred for appropriate services and intervention as part of their multidisciplinary care package
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