[Clinical usefulness and psychometric properties of the Cambridge Behavioural Inventory].

INTRODUCTION: An important area in neuropsychological assessment is that of psychological and behavioural symptoms. The Cambridge Behavioural Inventory (CBI) is a self-report measure aimed at relatives which takes account of a wide range of behavioural symptoms that may occur during the course of neurological diseases. The main objective of the study is to test the clinical usefulness of its Spanish adaptation.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The CBI was completed by 215 members of kin of patients referred from neurology and psychiatry services. The CBI profiles of four groups of patients were compared, these being grouped according to their main clinical characteristics, psychometric data, imaging tests and the clinical judgement of the professional requesting the neuropsychological study.

RESULTS: Most of the scales (10 out of 13) of the CBI yielded acceptable internal consistency values, and the memory and attention/orientation scales showed high correlations with objective measures of memory and time orientation. The CBI profiles of the groups of patients with different conditions (organic memory disorder, functional memory disorder, behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease) were consistent with their main features.

CONCLUSIONS: The CBI is a psychometrically reliable instrument with adequate convergent and discriminant validity that can be useful in the process of neuropsychological assessment. It can provide relevant information not only about cognitive functioning and the functional capabilities, but also about the behavioural and psychological symptoms of patients with cognitive disorders.