Past Issues

Objective: Attention is the most fundamental cognitive function in daily life. Chu’s Attention Test (CAT) is one of the most widely used measures for assessing attention function in clinical psychiatric settings in Taiwan. The test-retest reliabil-ity and the minimal detectable change (MDC) of this measure remain largely un-known for patients with schizophrenia, limiting the interpretability and applicabil-ity of this measure. The purpose of this study was to investigate the test-retest reliability and the MDC of the CAT in patients with schizophrenia. Methods: One hundred and forty-seven patients with schizophrenia were recruited in this study. The participants completed the CAT at two sessions spaced one week apart. The intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to examine the test-retest reli-ability, and the MDC was calculated from the standard error of measurement. In addition, the percentage MDC (MDC%) was calculated. Results: The test-retest reliability of the CAT was excellent (p < 0.001) with difference of mean 1.9; and ICC was 0.95. The MDC (MDC%) was 12.5 (22.8%). Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, we suggest that the CAT is reliable in monitoring the attention function in patients with schizophrenia. These findings could help clinicians and researchers judge whether a change in the CAT between two repeated sessions is real for patients with schizophrenia.