Devine, J., Fliege, H., Kocalevent, R., Mierke, A., Klapp, B.F., & Rose, M. (2014). Evaluation of Computerized Adaptive Tests (CATs) for longitudinal monitoring of depression, anxiety, and stress reactions. Journal of Affective Disorders. Advance online publication. PMID: 25481813.
Computer adaptive tests (CATs) tailor items specifically to test takers, which reduces the number of questions a test taker must complete. Though a number of computer adaptive tests (CATs) have been developed for psychiatric disorders, little research has examined the psychometric properties of these tests over time. In this study, the authors compared three CATs for anxiety, depression, and stress with traditional static assessments. Participants admitted to a hospital psychiatric department (n=595) completed both static tests and CATs at intake and discharge. Results showed that the test-retest reliability of the CATs was high, and ranged from 0.71 to 0.80. When compared to the static tests, the CATs were equally sensitive to changes in psychiatric conditions from intake to discharge. Therefore, the authors suggest that CATs are both reliable and sensitive for measuring depression, stress, and anxiety over time.