The Comprehensive Aphasia Test–Hungarian: adaptation and psychometric properties

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: The Comprehensive Aphasia Test (CAT) has recently been adapted to a number of languages – including Hungarian – by an international network of multidisciplinary aphasia researchers, the Collaboration of Aphasia Trialists. In Hungarian, to date, there is no standardised test to assess people with aphasia (PWA). Aims: The aim of this paper was to evaluate psychometric properties of the Hungarian adaptation of the CAT (CAT-H) by assessing internal consistency, reliability, and validity of the test. In addition, we reiterate main challenges of the adaptation – so far only published in Hungarian – and present the main characteristics of the CAT-H. Methods & Procedures: One hundred PWA, mostly with unilateral, left hemisphere stroke, and 34 healthy control participants completed the CAT-H which consists of two parts: A Cognitive Screening Test (CST) and a Language Battery (LB). Our analysis included (1) comparison of performance between PWA and control participants in all subtests; (2) assessment of inter-rater and test–retest reliability in a small group of PWA (N = 10 and N = 9, respectively) using intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs); (3) assessment of construct validity by performing principal component analysis (PCA) on subtests of the CST and subtests of the LB in the aphasia group; (4) assessment of concurrent validity by calculating Spearman rank correlation coefficients between subtests of the CAT-H and subtests of the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB; N = 59) and the Test for the Reception of Grammar-Hungarian (TROG-H; N = 35). Outcomes & Results: Our results show that the CAT-H has good-to-excellent psychometric properties. It is able to differentiate between aphasic and non-aphasic performance and it demonstrates strong internal consistency. Moderate to high ICCs suggest good-to-excellent inter-rater and test–retest reliability for most subtests of the LB. Consistent with the English CAT, the PCA identified one component in the CST and three components in the LB. High correlations between subtests of the CAT-H and subtests of the WAB and the TROG-H suggest satisfying concurrent validity for the CAT-H. Conclusions: Comparable psychometric properties of the CAT-H and the original version of the CAT suggest that the Hungarian language and cultural adaptation was successful. We believe that the CAT-H will be a unique resource for rehabilitation professionals and aphasia researchers in aphasia assessment in Hungary. In addition, together with adaptations in other languages, it may provide a unique tool for cross-linguistic aphasia assessment.