Assessment for executive function (EF) and adaptive function are integral parts of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). There are many ways in which vulnerable children may end up in CAMHS due to brain injury causes such as infections, neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) like Autism and ADHD, and mental disorders like Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder. However, assessing brain injury in non-Western populations is easier said than done. Most importantly, there is the problem of measurement across different cultural contexts where items may be biased or simply culturally inappropriate. This may make any scores so-derived meaningless. Given that over the past few decades, children in the global South have seen a steady overall improvement in their standard of living, many more are surviving beyond the age of five, but the question is, are they thriving?
With the high prevalence of the known causes of brain injury in sub-Saharan Africa (such as infections like Meningitis and Cerebral Malaria), an accurate means of assessment and early identification of executive dysfunction in school-age children in West Africa will be quite useful. Particularly useful in this context, given the acute shortage of child psychiatrists and neuropsychologists in West Africa, will be an easy-to-use screening tool for frontal lobe damage for primary care workers, who are the first point of call for the vast majority of children with potential brain injury.
Finally, brain injury adversely affects educational outcomes, and early identification could alter educational trajectories for millions of children. This project seeks to develop such culturally appropriate tools for this population for these reasons and more.