Psychometric Properties of a Self-Report Instrument for the Assessment of Tic Severity in Adults With Tic Disorders☆
Section snippets
Development and Scoring of the Adult Tic Questionnaire (ATQ)
The ATQ (see Appendix) was directly modeled after the Parent Tic Questionnaire (PTQ; Chang et al., 2009), a self-report inventory administered to parents for the assessment of tic severity in youth. The PTQ demonstrates strong psychometric properties, including construct validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability (Chang et al., 2009). Similar to the PTQ, the ATQ includes a list of 14 common motor tics and 131
Results
Demographic and clinical indices are presented in Table 1. The sample had an average IQ score (106). The mean YGTSS total score indicated a moderate to severe degree of tic severity (according to severity ranges offered by Bloch et al., 2006). Overall severity of OCD symptoms was in the nonclinical range. More than half the sample (54%) was not diagnosed with any comorbid condition. Of those with a co-occurring condition, the most prevalent comorbid conditions were ADHD (28%) and OCD (16%).
Discussion
The aim of the present study was to present initial psychometric data on the ATQ, a brief self-report measure for the assessment of tic severity in adults with TD. The ATQ demonstrated very good internal consistency and temporal stability between the screening and baseline assessment. The ATQ subscale scores correlated strongly with the YGTSS, demonstrating strong convergent construct validity. Correlations between the ATQ and Y-BOCS and ADHD-RS subscales were weaker compared to the
Conclusion
The ATQ is a promising addition to the current assessment battery of TD. It demonstrates very good psychometric properties, provides valuable multidimensional tic-specific information, and a highly needed option to assess tics online. Furthermore, previous preliminary examination of the ATQ in a randomized clinical trial demonstrated its sensitivity to change with BT for tic disorders, but more research is needed in order to examine the utility and sensitivity of the ATQ in clinical trials.
Conflict of Interest Statement
Drs Abramovitch and Reese declare no conflict of interest.
Drs Wilhelm, Peterson, Piacentini, Woods, and Scahill report receiving royalties from Oxford University Press for a treatment manual on tic disorders.
Drs Wilhelm, Peterson, Piacentini, Woods, and Scahill report receiving honoraria for continuing education presentations from the Tourette Syndrome Association. Drs Piacentini, and Woods, receive royalties from Guilford Press for a book on Tourette disorder.
Dr Wilhelm reports receiving
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2018, Behavior TherapyCitation Excerpt :However, this report extends this initial psychometric investigation by utilizing a larger treatment-seeking clinical sample, and investigating discriminant validity using a broad array of comorbid constructs (e.g., internalizing and externalizing symptoms). Findings were also consistent with the initial psychometric investigation of the adult version of this scale, the Adult Tic Questionnaire, which shows strong psychometric properties (Abramovitch et al., 2015). In addition, this report examined the efficiency of tic severity reduction cutoffs associated with positive treatment response.
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This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to Drs. Wilhelm (5R01MH069877), Scahill (R01MH069874), and Peterson (RO1MH069875) with subcontracts to Drs. Piacentini and Woods.