Social cognition assessment in French language for adults: Available tools and recommendations for clinical practice

Social cognition is described as the processes underlying interpersonal relationships. The crucial role of these processes in rehabilitation, especially in adult psychiatry, has raised needs of clinical assessment in this particular cognitive domain. However, social cognition is a multidimensional construct which has been studied in numerous recent international researches. This review is aimed at inventorying available tools in French language for social cognition assessment in adults, and at drawing recommendation for practice in clinical neuropsychology. Results show that despite the lack of available tools, the assessment of social cognition is feasible in several dimensions, such as facial emotion recognition, theory of mind, alexithymia and emotional awareness. Each of the identified tools has specific benefits and limits that delimitate their potential usefulness. Globally, the incomplete validation of tools, as Well as their heterogeneity and their multidetermination should lead to some caution when assessing performances and interpreting results. However, when crossing assessments and controlling for basic neurocognitive difficulties, the identified tools can provide detailed information about each patient's social cognition profile. Studies remain necessary to further validate existing tools and to allow more reliable and diversified assessment. (C) 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.