The K‑CAT® is a scientifically validated, computerized adaptive mental health test battery designed specifically for children and adolescents ages 7–17. Utilizing paired test sessions (Interviews) delivered through Q‑global®, K‑CAT® transforms traditional youth mental health screening into a fast, precise, and developmentally appropriate experience for both patients and clinicians.
Using advanced computerized adaptive testing (CAT) guided by multi-dimensional item response theory (MIRT), K‑CAT® dynamically adjusts each assessment in real time based on the child’s or caregiver’s responses—selecting only the most informative items needed to achieve precise measurement. This approach dramatically reduces assessment length while maintaining high psychometric precision.
What K‑CAT® Measures
K‑CAT® includes self‑report and parent/caregiver‑report modules, allowing clinicians to capture a comprehensive picture of a youth’s mental and behavioral health across multiple perspectives. The assessment is validated for the following domains:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Mania / Hypomania
- Attention‑Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Conduct Disorder
- Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)
- Substance Use Disorder (self‑report)
- Post‑Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD; self‑report)
- Suicidality (self‑report)
Fast, Precise, and Youth‑Centered
K‑CAT® adaptively selects a small set of items from a large, rigorously calibrated item bank, enabling highly precise measurements with minimal burden on children, caregivers, and clinicians. Average completion times are approximately 7.5 minutes for youth and 5 minutes for parents or caregivers, with only a few items administered per domain.
All item content is written at an age‑appropriate reading level and includes built‑in audio support to assist younger children and those with literacy challenges
Validation and Clinical Rigor
K‑CAT® has been validated against semi‑structured clinical interviews for youth populations and published in peer‑reviewed scientific journals, demonstrating strong reliability and validity across supported domains.
This rigorous validation supports K‑CAT® as a reliable tool for screening, severity measurement, and outcomes monitoring in a wide range of clinical and educational settings.
K‑CAT® supports efficient, measurement‑based care for children and adolescents by helping clinicians and organizations:
- Screen for multiple mental health concerns in a single, brief assessment
- Identify youth at risk earlier and more accurately
- Support diagnostic decision‑making
- Monitor symptom change and treatment outcomes over time
- Scale youth mental health screening across schools, clinics, and health systems
- Triage incoming patients to determine level of service needs
Why choose K‑CAT®?
The benefits of K‑CAT® include:
- Comprehensive domain coverage: K‑CAT® includes modules to assess a wide range of mental health concerns: Depression, Anxiety, Suicidality, ADHD, Mania/Hypomania, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder, PTSD, and Substance Use
- Lower testing burden: Digital computerized adaptive testing from a test-session link lowers test taker burden and eliminates clinician burden
- Flexible, configurable assessment sessions: Clinicians can choose to administer all the assessments in a single session or select only the domains they are interested in for that given moment in time.
- Child and Parent Input: Paired interviews provide the most precise measurement of symptoms. When paired interviews are not available, either the child or parent responses can be used.
- Efficiency: The entire battery can be administered to most individuals in under 10 minutes. Any single module can be administered in 1-3 minutes.
- Precision: using Computer Adaptive Testing based on multi-dimensional item-response theory, results obtained provide a precision score, a suggested diagnostic classification and a specificity score so clinicians/educators can be highly confident in obtained results. When both the child and parent provide responses, diagnostic probability scores are provided.
- Individualized assessment: Computer Adaptive Testing means that examinees receive test questions based on their individual situation and responses. Subsequent test sessions are unique and do not administer the same questions over and over again.
- Large Item Bank: The K‑CAT® adaptively selects a small optimal set of items from a large bank of approximately 2,120 items, targeted to each person’s current or historical level of severity.
- Accessibility: using our Q-global platform, users can access the tests from any internet enabled device. Assessments can be completed in the office, or remotely using a smartphone, tablet, or computer.
- Multi-purpose assessment: K‑CAT® modules can be used for triage in healthcare or education settings, in advance of clinical appointments, or as part of ongoing outcome monitoring in a variety of settings.
- English and Spanish test items, selectable with or without audio voice
