Face validity of the youth Multiple Errands Test (yMET) in the community: A focus group and pilot study

Abstract

Introduction

During late adolescence and early adulthood, maturation of cognitive functions including executive functions are occurring. The multiple errands test is an assessment of real-world executive functions and, to date, non-virtual reality multiple errands test research has focused primarily on adults with acquired brain injury in hospital settings. There is poor evidence across multiple errands test studies for content and face validity and limited studies in the community. This study aimed to explore multiple errands test face validity for typically developing youth (age 16–24 years) and describe their community setting performance on a youth multiple errands test.

Methods

A youth focus group (N = 5) was conducted to explore perceptions of the multiple errands test. From their input, the youth multiple errands test was developed and pilot tested (N = 9) in a shopping mall.

Results

Two themes emerged from focus group analysis and limited changes, relevant to youth, were made to develop the youth multiple errands test. The focus group and pilot study found the youth multiple errands test was acceptable and cognitively challenging for youth, with older youth performing better than younger youth. Overall youth multiple errands test performance suggests similarities to healthy adults in previous studies.

Conclusion

Findings must be interpreted with caution since the sample was small, but preliminary results indicate that future studies with the youth multiple errands test are feasible and warranted.