Status of Occupational Therapists on Unilateral Neglect Test Tools Usage and Symptom Classification

Jang, Woo Hyuk

Abstract

PURPOSE
The aim of this study was to investigate the current status of the use of neglect test tools and the awareness for egocentric neglect (EN) and allocentric neglect (AN).
METHODS
A survey questionnaire was distributed to occupational therapists attending continuing education at the Daegu-Gyeongbuk branch on April 16. A total 143 responses were collected, and with the exception of 5 incomplete responses, 138 of them were analyzed.
RESULTS
The most commonly used unilateral neglect test tools were the line bisection test (86 responses, 62.3%), cancellation test (35 responses, 25.4%), copy and drawing test (7 responses, 5.1%). In a follow-up survey of 86 respondents who used line bisection tests as the most commonly used test, the majority (82 responses, 95.3%2) were found to use the 20-line test paper. In question about the familiarity and education experience for test manual, only 20 responses (23.2%) and 3 responses (3.5%) answered "˜Yes'. In a question about the experience of a manual and the article for the manual, 25 responses (29.1%) answered "˜Yes'. In the question regarding the separation of EN and AN on the unilateral neglect test, 44 responses (31.9%) were "˜distinction' and 94 responses (68.1%) were "˜no distinction'.
CONCLUSION
Information on the guidance and interpretation of the line bisection test is lacking and the concept of EN and AN was insufficient.