Measurement properties of the Galveston Orientation and Amnesia Test (GOAT) and improvement patterns during inpatient rehabilitation

Objectives: To determine the measurement properties of the Galveston Orient ation and Amnesia Test (GOAT) using the Rasch model and rating scale analys is (RSA). Design: Calibration of data collected weekly during rehabilitatio n. Setting: Six inpatient rehabilitation facilities. Participants: 77 patie nts admitted for their first rehabilitation after traumatic brain injury. R esults: Rescoring the items as dichotomies, three strata of posttraumatic a mnesia (PTA) were identified. AU items cohered to define a single construct and the item hierarchy confirmed their hypothesized ordering. Conclusions: Equal-interval measures of PTA were developed that exhibited good reliabil ity and validity. A self-scoring key was developed to more efficiently asse ss PTA.