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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

Assess for ADD and ADHD in Adults and Children

 

Coming Soon!

The CAT desktop software is being discontinued as of February 1, 2024.  To streamline your administration, PAR is currently developing an i-Admin and Score Report on PARiConnect.  Start learning how to use PARiConnect with our training materials.

 

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.
  • Assesses behaviors that correspond to DSM-IV
    • Clinical symptoms: inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity
    • Multiple contexts: school/work, social, personal
    • Differentiates sensations (internal) from actions (external)

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.