Cyberscams and Acquired Brain Injury: Developing a measure to assess online risk and safety for people with ABI.

Abstract

Title: Cyberscams and Acquired Brain Injury: Developing a measure to assess online risk and safety for people with ABI.

Background: Individuals with acquired brain injury (ABI) may be vulnerable to cyberscams due to cognitive and social changes post-injury. However, lack of existing measures regarding online risk for people with ABI limits our ability to objectively investigate ABI-specific risk factors to cyberscams, assess the frequency of this problem, and evaluate evidence-based interventions. The CyberAbility Scale was developed to assess vulnerability for people with ABI via self-rated statements and a practical scam identification activity.

Aims: This study aimed to develop and refine The CyberAbility Scale through feedback from ABI clinicians and people with ABI. This forms part of a larger ongoing scale development project.

Methods: Scale feedback was collected via three rounds of feedback with ABI clinicians (n=14) using Delphi methods, and two rounds of feedback with participants with ABI (n=8) who participated in a cognitive interview. Following each round, feedback was summarised and revisions were made accordingly.

Results: Key revisions from clinician feedback included removing a total of 12 items deemed clinically irrelevant. Instructions and rating scales were revised to improve clarity. Cognitive interviews identified 15 comprehension errors, and further revisions were made to support recall and response difficulties for participants with ABI. Overall, clinician and ABI participants supported the content and face validity of The CyberAbility Scale. Initial psychometric evaluation will also be discussed.

Conclusions: The CyberAbility Scale has the potential to be an effective screening measure of online vulnerability for persons with ABI with utility within clinical and research settings. Further validation work is currently underway.