The validity and reliability study of the language battery of comprehensive aphasia test-Turkish (CAT-TR)

This study aimed to adapt the Language Battery section of the Comprehensive Aphasia Test into Turkish. The section consisted of 21 sub-tests and six modality scores (spoken and written language comprehension, repetition, naming, reading, writing). 90 Turkish-speaking people with aphasia, 200 Turkish-speaking healthy and 20 Turkish-English speaking bilingual healthy participants over 18 years of age took part in the validity and reliability analyses. The participants were stratified into two education (1-8 years and 9+) and three age (18-44, 45-59, 60+) groups. The analyses belonging to content, construct, and criterion validity were carried out, while the reliability analyses were performed on the internal consistency, stability and equivalence. The effect of the demographic variables (education, age and gender) on the Language Battery performances of Turkish-speaking people with aphasia and healthy participants was examined. The education variable was found to influence the modality scores of the healthy participants, while the differences related to the performance of three age groups were found to be significant except the reading modality scores. The gender variable was found to influence only the naming performances of healthy individuals in that the female participants were better in this modality. The education and gender variables did not hold any effects on the language performance of people with aphasia. Those who were below 60 years of age showed statistically better performance in the Spoken and Written Language Comprehension modality scores. Lastly, the cut-off values for the modality and total language scores were provided. It was concluded that the Language Battery of CAT-TR was an appropriate tool for the language assessment of Turkish-speaking adults.