Relations between a computerized shopping task and cognitive and clinical variables in patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder and alcohol dependency compared with healthy controls.

in Abstract book of the BAPS Annual Meeting 2011 (2011)

Persons diagnosed with bipolar disorder and alcohol dependency are frequently subject to poor everyday life functioning. However, previous studies have primarily used questionnaires or observational ... [more ▼]

Persons diagnosed with bipolar disorder and alcohol dependency are frequently subject to poor everyday life functioning. However, previous studies have primarily used questionnaires or observational methods to assess everyday life functioning, both of which contain a number of limits. In order to address some of these limits, we developed a computerised real-life activity task, in particular, a shopping task where participants are required to shop for a list of 8 grocery store items. Twenty individuals diagnosed with alcoholic dependence and 21 patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder were compared with 20 and 21 matched healthy controls, respectively. All participants completed the shopping task, and both clinical groups were evaluated with an extensive battery of neuropsychological tests and a measure of global functioning. Results showed that, for both clinical groups, performance on the computerised shopping task significantly differentiated patients and healthy controls for a number of variables, especially total time and mean time to consult the shopping list. Performances on shopping task variables, in both clinical groups, were also significantly correlated with neuropsychological tests measuring verbal episodic memory, processing speed and selective attention. Finally, performances on the computerised shopping task were significantly correlated with various clinical variables and with global functioning in both patient groups. These findings suggest that the computerised task used in the present study provides a valid indication of the level of everyday life functioning for these clinical populations, and therefore may be viewed as a valuable instrument in both an evaluation and remediation context. [less ▲]