Development of a generic version of the multiple errands test for severe acquired brain injuries

Background: Impairment of executive functions is a frequent and disabling consequence of brain injury. In 1991, Shallice and Burgess elaborated the Multiple Errand Test (MET) to assess everyday troubles associated with this impairment. Objective: Our first aim was to create a generic version of MET (MET-G) readily adaptable to different settings and for retesting. The second aim was to validate the revised version to detect executive impairment in individuals with severe ABI. Methods: An inter-professional team of experts in neurorehabilitation created a revised version of MET. Twenty-one patients with sABI (severe Acquired Brain Injury) and a control group of 20 neurologically healthy subjects, took part in the testing of MET-G. Results: MET-G clearly distinguished people with sABI from healthy controls based on Total error score, task completion, and rule breaking. The test showed good inter-rater reliability and internal consistency. Conclusions: The new, generic version of MET was able to differentiate adults with sABI from controls and proved to be a good tool for evaluating executive functions in these patients in daily-life contexts. Indications on how to adapt the test to different contexts and different scoring modalities are provided.