Initial validation of the SPANS in an ID sample
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Initial validation and qualitative analysis of the Short Parallel Assessments of Neuropsychological Status (SPANS) within an intellectual disabilities sample.
IRAS ID
213181
Contact name
Danielle Harker
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 29 days
Research summary
Neuropsychological tests are one way of finding out about strengths and weaknesses in ability. The Short Parallel Assessments of Neuropsychological Status (SPANS) was developed by Burgess (2014) to look at thinking, visual, and language abilities. This test has never been used with people with learning disabilities and could help to improve understanding of this population.
This research aims to see how adults who have been given a diagnosis of a learning disability perform on the SPANS. We also want to find out about peoples experience of completing the SPANS.
The SPANS will be completed by at least 25 participants from an East Midlands learning disability service, followed by interviews with at least 12 of these. It will take 30-40 minutes to complete the SPANS, and around 15 minutes to complete interviews.
Performances on the SPANS will be compared to a group of people with ‘average intelligence’ (this data will be taken from a previous study). A statistics programme will be used to find out whether there are differences between the two groups, and if so, what differences there are in strengths and weaknesses. Interviews will be recorded and the researcher will look for themes that best describe people’s experiences of the SPANS.
This research may give us information about the thinking profiles of people with learning disabilities. The more that we understand about the abilities of different people, the more likely we may be to recognise specific support needs, and therefore improve care.
Information about participants will be coded with numbers to keep identity private. It will be important to check that people understand what this research is about and what they will be doing; visual aids will be used to help with this. Also, these types of tests can be stressful and so care will be taken to support participants during tasks and afterwards.REC name
West Midlands - South Birmingham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/WM/0517
Date of REC Opinion
22 Dec 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion