The Validity and Reliability of the Language Battery in Comprehensive Aphasia Test-Turkish (CAT-TR)

Abstract

Aphasia assessment is the initial step of a well-structured language therapy. Therefore, it is reasonable to underline that the assessment tools need to consider the typological and cultural characteristics of the language. A group of international researchers in the Collaboration of Aphasia Trialists have been adapting the Comprehensive Aphasia Test (CAT) into 14 languages spoken in Europe including Turkish. Thus, the aim of this study was to perform the validity and reliability analyses of the Language Battery section of CAT-TR to ensure the assessment of Turkish-speaking people with aphasia (PWA). The test included 21 sub-tests and yielded six modality scores (spoken language comprehension, written language comprehension, repetition, naming, reading, writing). Ninety PWA (Mean(AGE) = 61.07) and 200 controls (Mean(AGE) = 54.89) involved in the analyses. The participants were stratified into two education and three age groups. The analyses belonging to content, construct and criterion validity were performed, while the reliability analyses included internal consistency, test-retest and inter-rater reliability. Education influenced all the modality scores of the controls, while age-related differences were significant among all the modality scores except reading. It has to be underlined that Education did not hold any significant effects on the language performance of PWA, whereas those younger than 60 showed statistically better performance in the Spoken and Written Language Comprehension modality scores. The cut-off scores for each modality and Language Battery were presented with high sensitivity and specificity values. Compared to the psychometric characteristics of the adapted versions of CAT and aphasia tests utilized in Turkey, CAT-TR is an appropriate test for the language assessment of Turkish-speaking adults with aphasia.