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. 2018 Jun 11;18(1):184.
doi: 10.1186/s12888-018-1776-x.

Construct validity and internal consistency reliability of the Loewenstein occupational therapy cognitive assessment (LOTCA)

Fidaa Almomani  1 , Tamara Avi-Itzhak  2 , Naor Demeter  3 , Naomi Josman  3 , Murad O Al-Momani  4
Affiliations

Construct validity and internal consistency reliability of the Loewenstein occupational therapy cognitive assessment (LOTCA)

Fidaa Almomani et al. BMC Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: Cognitive abilities are essential for children's development and independence. Various cognitive assessments, standardized in Western cultures, have yet to be investigated for their multicultural suitability.

Aims: To explore the suitability of the Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment (LOTCA) for a Jordanian population.

Methods: Observed cases of 442 Jordanian children aged 6-12 were used to perform exploratory factor analyses using principal components with Varimax rotation (construct validity evidence) and to compute Cronbach's α coefficient (internal consistency reliability).

Results: High total performance on four subscales and a slightly lower total performance on two subscales were observed. Observed performance increased with age on three subtests, whereas a more modest increase was observed on the other three subscales. The expected one-factorial solution confirming the LOTCA's subscales homogeneity (unidimensionality) structure was found on five of six subscales. Variance explained by the subscales ranged from 39 to 82% and internal consistency reliability measured by Cronbach's alpha ranged from .42 to .78.

Conclusions: Satisfactory construct validity and internal consistency reliability were demonstrated on two subscales applicable to Jordanian children without adaptation. With adequate cross-cultural adaptation, increasing internal consistency reliability in other subscales could make the LOTCA an effective tool for assessing cognitive abilities in this population.

Keywords: Cognitive evaluation; Cognitive performance; Loewenstein occupational therapy cognitive assessment (LOTCA).

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Written parental consent form was obtained which needed to be signed if the child was eligible and the parents voluntarily agreed that their child would participate. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of King Abdullah University Hospital (Reference # 151) (i.e. ethics committee) and Deanship of Research of Jordan University of Science and Technology (Grant # 20120151).

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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