Construct Validity Confirmation of Iranian Version of Lowenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment (LOTCA)

Schizophrenia generally has cognitive impairments. So, cognitive impairments can affect whole life's aspects, cognitive assessment helps develop treatment planning and obtain independency in Occupational performance areas. The goal of this study is supporting construct validity of the Iranian version of Lowenstein Occupational Therapy cognitive assessment (LOTCA) through comparison of cognition among schizophrenic patients and general population. This is a validity testing study that was performed on 737 person (237- patient & 500- general population `) in 20-60 age by comparative method. Samples were selected randomly accordance to research criteria. The tool was Lotca that asses six cognitive areas. Data gathered through demographic questionnaire and Lotca's scoring sheet and analyzed by Spearman correlation coefficient, Leven and Independent T-tests. There was significant different in cognitive performance between schizophrenic patients and normal population in all subtests of LOTCA (P>0.001). Comparison of cognitive performance of inpatients and outpatients showed significant difference in orientation, visual perception, visu-motor organization, thinking operations attention and concentration (P>0.001). In females thinking operations (P=0.033) and attention and concentration (P=0.007) was higher than males. The mean scores of subscales in employed person significantly were higher than unemployed persons (P>0.001). Subscales scores has reduced with increasing of age. Married persons showed higher orientation (P=0.033). Also there was significant difference between level of education and desirability of seven subscales (P>0.001). Results supports and confirms the construct validity of Lowenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment (LOTCA) for cognitive status evaluation of schizophrenic patients.