Translating and validating a Mandarin Chinese version of the computerized revised token test

Abstract

The primary objective of this study was to validate the item translation of the Computerized Revised Token Test-Mandarin (CRTT-Mandarin) and to investigate the concurrent validity of this translation in normal control participants (NP) and in persons with aphasia (PWA). The translation of the Computerized Revised Token Test into CRTT-Mandarin was accomplished by forward and backward translation procedures. The concurrent validity was evaluated by comparing the performance of NP and PWA on CRTT-Mandarin and on the Concise Chinese Aphasia Test (CCAT; ); the single standardized Mandarin Chinese aphasia test. Eleven PWA and 19 NP who were native Chinese speakers served as participants. All the participants were administered both aphasia tests. Tests of difference between groups and tests of association were computed between the CRTT-Mandarin overall and between subtest scores and each of the CCAT subtests and overall score. A high degree of agreement was achieved between the forward and backward translations of CRTT and CRTT-Mandarin tests. Statistical analyses revealed significantly lower scores for the PWA than the NP on the overall and subtest scores of CRTT-Mandarin. All correlations were significant. A valid translation of CRTT-Mandarin reliably distinguished comprehension performance between PWA and NP. Concurrent validity is judged to be satisfactory with high positive correlations between CCAT and CRTT-Mandarin.

Keywords:

• Mandarin Chinese
• Aphasia
• Standardized assessment
• Computerized Revised Token Test

Acknowledgements

The authors owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Marty Wu for recording the acoustic stimuli, and offer thanks to Dr. Lu Lu, Dr. Yao-Jen Chen, Ms. Shih-Chen Lai, and Ms. Hsiang-Chen Chen for assisting recruiting participants. This study was supported in part by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Office of Research and Development, Rehabilitation Research and Development Service (awards #C47074X and C3318R to Malcolm R. McNeil) and resources and facilities provided by the Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center in the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System. The study was also supported by the SHRS Research Development Fund at the University of Pittsburgh.