ASSESSING SELF-RATED MEMORY IMPAIRMENT IN PERSONS WITH POSTTRAUMATIC HEADACHE

Forty-two patients with persistent posttraumatic headache and postconcussion sympto-matology following a motor vehicle accident completed the Self-Rating Scale of Memory Functions (SRShl), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and brief memory testing. SRShl scores indicated that patients rated their memory a.s significantly impaired relative to their preinjury status. SRShl scores were not affected by such factors;1s age, education, gender, and loss of consciousness. However, significantly depressed patients rated their memory as more impaired on 14 of 18 SRShl items when compared with nondepressed patients. After controlling for depression, SRShl scores correlated signifi-cantly with objective performance on several memory tests. The implications of these findings are discussed. Traditional tests of memory have been criticized on the basis of ecological validity because they often show little relationship with problems in everyday memory functioning (Kareken et al.