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The SKT neuropsychological test battery.
1Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Medical School, Houston 77225.
Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology
|October 1, 1992
Summary
The SKT (Symptom Checklist) is a quick memory and attention test. It shows promise for evaluating how well new dementia drugs work by measuring patient performance changes.
Area of Science:
- Neuropsychology
- Gerontology
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Senile dementia presents a significant challenge in clinical practice.
- Assessing the efficacy of antidementia drugs requires reliable and efficient measurement tools.
- The SKT (Symptom Checklist) was developed in Germany as a brief neuropsychological assessment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the factor structure, scoring, and classification of dementia profiles using the SKT.
- To present reliability and validity data for the SKT.
- To explore the potential of the SKT in assessing therapeutic efficacy for senile dementia.
Main Methods:
- The SKT is a neuropsychological test battery comprising nine subtests.
- It measures two independent factors: memory and attention deficit.
- The test has five parallel forms and requires approximately 15 minutes for administration.
Main Results:
- The SKT demonstrates a clear factor structure related to memory and attention.
- Reliability and validity data support its use in clinical research.
- The test has been successfully used in Germany to document patient performance improvements in antidementia drug trials.
Conclusions:
- The SKT is a promising tool for the efficient assessment of objective performance changes.
- It can supplement clinical evaluations of new senile dementia drugs.
- The SKT offers a valuable method for tracking treatment efficacy.