The Dysexecutive Questionnaire-Spanish (DEX-Sp)

The Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX) Spanish version (DEX-Sp) (Llanero-Luque et al., 2008; Wilson et al., 1996) is a 20-item self-report questionnaire that entails different questions related to problems in everyday life EFs (see Table 2). It has shown an adequate internal consistency and convergent validity in different language versions (Pedrero-Pérez et al., 2009; Yang et al., 2018). The test is suitable for ages between 16 and 87 and is designed to screen observable everyday manifestations of executive dysfunctions such as problems in attention, memory deficits, information processing, behavioral control, emotion regulation and others (Azouvi et al., 2015; Simblett & Bateman, 2011). Participants rate the items on a five-points Likert scale (0–4) where each point represents the severity of the problem from the perspective of the respondent, ranging from “never” to “very often.” Scores below 18 points are attributed to individuals without dysexecutive problems, scores ranging 19–28 suggest a moderate DS and scores above 28 points reflect significant impairments in day-to-day EFs (i.e., DS). Pedrero-Pérez et al., (2009) identified two scales/factors for the DEX-Sp, the Disorganization/Apathy Scale and Disinhibition/Impulsivity Scale. The first factor, Disorganization/Apathy Scale is composed of items that explore difficulties to engage or maintain a behavior as well as to organize and perform a planned behavior. The second factor, Disinhibition/Impulsivity Scale, explores difficulties to inhibit responses or unwanted behaviors when these are inappropriate to the immediate context. The DEX has been widely used recently in several clinical populations such as patients with brain damage (Simblett & Bateman, 2011), schizophrenia (Chan & Manly, 2002), substance abuse (Llanero-Luque et al., 2008), Alzheimer (Shi et al., 2017), as well as children and adults with ASD (Cederlund et al., 2010; Johnston et al., 2019).

Problematic areas targeted by the DEX-Sp