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CAT

Clinical Assessment of Attention Deficit

Bruce A. Bracken, PhD, and Barbara S. Boatwright, PhD

Purpose:
Comprehensively assesses ADD/ADHD
Format:
Paper and pencil, E-Manual, Download
Age range:
8 years to 79 years
Time:
Adult (CAT-A): 20–25 minutes; Child (CAT-C): 10–20 minutes
Qualification level:
B
B
A degree from an accredited 4-year college or university in psychology, counseling, speech-language pathology, or a closely related field plus satisfactory completion of coursework in test interpretation, psychometrics and measurement theory, educational statistics, or a closely related area; or license or certification from an agency that requires appropriate training and experience in the ethical and competent use of psychological tests. Close

The CAT assesses symptoms of attention-deficit disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adults and children.

Features and benefits

  • Includes adult and child information together in one manual.
  • Item content, clinical scales, and clusters are similar and parallel between adult and child forms.

CAT-A

The CAT-A is a 108-item self-report instrument that is sensitive to the symptomatology of attentional deficits both with and without hyperactivity for adults.

  • Consists of two parts: Part 1 (Childhood Memories) assesses the individual’s memories of his or her behaviors and sensations as a child; Part 2 (Current Symptoms) assesses parallel issues in adulthood.
  • Clinical index scores are provided for both parts separately and for the summation of the parts.
  • Three validity scales—Negative Impression, Infrequency, and Positive Impression—are embedded within the instrument.
  • The CAT-A was standardized on a sample of 800 adults ages 19-79 years. The sample was well-matched to the U.S. population for gender, race/ethnicity, and education level.
  • Linkage to DSM-IV diagnostic criteria with comprehensive content coverage both within and across scales/clusters assists you in rendering differential diagnoses.
  • Context clusters indicate contexts in which ADD/ADHD symptoms are most problematic, whereas locus clusters indicate the extent to which ADD/ADHD symptoms are experienced internally as sensations or experienced as symptoms on which overt behaviors are acted.

CAT-C

The CAT-C is a 42-item assessment instrument with three parallel forms: a Self-Rating Form, a Parent Rating Form, and a Teacher Rating Form.

  • Standardized on a sample of 800 children and adolescents ages 8-18 years, 800 matched parents of these children, and 500 teachers of these children.
  • Concurrent validity, assessed through comparison with the Conners’ Rating Scales, the ADHDT, the CAB, and the CAD, revealed moderate-to-high correlations for both nonclinical and combined clinical samples across all three rating forms.

Software portfolio available

The unlimited-use CAT-SP scores and profiles an individual’s performance on the CAT-A or any of the three CAT-C rating forms. After demographic and item response information is hand-entered from a completed rating form, the CAT-SP generates CAT-A and CAT-C score reports.