Abstract
This article reports the development and psychometric properties of three standardized and objectively scored measures, the MacArthur Treatment Competence Research Instruments. They were designed to assess abilities related conceptually to four legal standards for competence to consent to treatment: understanding, appreciation, rational manipulation (reasoning), and expressing a choice. Scoring reliability, internal consistency, intertest correlations, and test-retest correlations were examined with data from samples of hospitalized patients with schizophrenia, major depression, and ischemic heart disease, as well as matched non-ill community samples. The results indicate very good interscorer reliability and provide guidance for the use of the instruments and interpretation of their results in future research on patients' decisional abilities in treatment contexts.
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This research was supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Mental Health and the Law. Other members of the Network are acknowledged for their conceptual guidance during the process of the study: Shirley Abrahamson, Richard Bonnie, Pamela Hyde, John Monahan, Stephen Morse, Loren Roth, Paul Slovic, Henry Steadman, and David Wexler, as well as Steven K. Hoge. Acknowledged for their role in data collection management are Deidre Klassen and Cynthia Wickless. Requests for manuals for the MacArthur Treatment Competence Research Instruments.
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Grisso, T., Appelbaum, P.S., Mulvey, E.P. et al. The MacArthur Treatment Competence Study. II. Law Hum Behav 19, 127–148 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01499322
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01499322