Brenda Adamovich

Jennifer Henderson

Year of Publication:

1992

Publisher:

The Riverside Publishing Company

Current Cost:

$346.50 for a test kit

$65.00 for a package of 25 report forms

A test kit includes Manual, Stimulus Manual, Record Form, Stimulus Cards set, Stimulus Tape, and carrying case. In addition the examiner will need access to an audiocassette player, a pen or pencil for the patient to use, and a piece of scratch paper copied from page 57 of the Manual.

Purpose of the Test:

The SCATBI was designed primarily for patients with injuries resulting from nonpenetrating trauma to the head. The SCATBI tests for cognitive deficits that are typically impaired due to traumatic brain injury. The five processes are impaired perception, discrimination, organization, recall of information, and impaired problem solving. The five different scales measure the general domain of cognitive ability that underlies all of the different processes implied in the names of the different scales.

Ages for Whom the Test is Intended:

The SCATBI is stated to be appropriate for use with patients who have acquired brain damage.

The SCATBI was standardized based on scores of participants ranging from 15 to 88 years of age.

List Subtests:

1. Perception and Discrimination

2. Orientation

3. Organization

4. Recall

5. Reasoning

Describe the Normative Sample:

The normative sample was prepared over a period of approximately one year. Given the two main uses of the SCATBI, 1. To assess cognitive-linguistic status during recovery from head injury and 2. To describe the extent of changes during a program of rehabilitation, both head-injured patients and noninjured adults were sampled. There was a total of 322 subjects gathered from 26 sites ranging from acute-care facilities to rehabilitation centers to long-term rehabilitation centers, across the United States and Canada. 244 of those subjects were head-injured patients and 78 were noninjured subjects. The scores from the normal subjects were used to estimate the average difficulty of the test for noninjured subjects as an upperbound of expectations for head-injured subjects. It should be noted that 67% or 164 closed-head-injured patients were used in norms construction for the scales and composites; noninjured subjects were used with the head-injured subjects to establish the SCATBI Severity Score range. The SCATBI Standardization Sample also shows characteristics of the head-injured subjects in the standardization sample. It reports the sample by age and sex. Approximately half of the head-injured patients were between the ages of 15 and 30. The youngest patient was 15 years old and the oldest patient was 88 years old. The median age was 30 years old. There were two times as many males than females in the normative group. The SCATBI also reports the brain-injured only sample by diagnostic group. 67% or 164 participants of the sample had closed-head injuries. The sample also reported by time postinjury. Almost equal percentages of the sample were tested within 30 days postinjury, 18%, and more than a year postinjury, 17%. The sample also reported findings based on marital status, years of education, and the number of years worked. More than half of the sample had never been married and had been employed for less than five years. Of the patients who were over 18 years old, 75% had at least twelve years of schooling and 25% between the ages of 20 and 39 had at least thirteen years of schooling. More than 98% of the brain-injured and non-brain-injured spoke English as their primary language.

Are the Norms Appropriate for Use in Boone?

Yes- The normative sample is taken from a broad spectrum of people. If a clinician wanted to know the local norms for the SCATBI in one area, there is a computer software program available to meet the needs of clinicians in all areas.

Describe how Reliability was Established:

For the retest results one would want to yield different results from the first test because of spontaneous recovery and improvement from treatment are desired outcomes for head-injured patients. An improved score and a corresponding lower test-retest reliability is a socially desirable outcome.

Describe how Validity was Established:

The validity of the SCATBI was tested by comparing the results to another test’s results, The Rancho Los Amigos Levels of Cognitive Functioning.

Describe a situation for which the SCATBI would be chosen over the other tests.

The SCATBI has a broad base of assessing cognitive deficits. It may provide helpful information for the diagnosis and treatment of patients who suffer from neurological damage. The test is for a patient with cognitive deficits secondary to right brain damage, anoxia, brain tumors, or subcortical brain lesions.

Describe a situation for which the SCATBI should not be chosen over the other tests.

The SCATBI takes approximately two hours to complete entirely. It is not designed for patients with a penetrating trauma to the head.