title: Chinese character fluency test: an investigation of psychometric properties.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Verbal fluency test (VFT), one of the most commonly used tests to evaluate executive function (EF), can be subdivided into letter fluency (LF) and semantic fluency (SF). Although SF tasks have been established in Eastern societies, it is difficult to develop a LF task (Non-SF task) in Mandarin. This study thus aims to examine the psychometric properties of the Chang Gung University Orthographical Fluency Test (CGUOFT), a non-SF task with Chinese characters.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 290 participants were recruited from the community. Thirty participants were retested for the test-retest reliability. Three tests of EFs were used for the criterion-related validity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CGUOFT has fair internal consistency and good test-retest reliability. The concurrent validity of CGUOFT is also acceptable. An exploratory factor analysis showed a one-factor structure, and the CGUOFT scores significantly correlated with sex, age and educational level.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study might be the first one considering the Chinese characters to establish a VFT. Based on good psychometric properties, it merits evaluations of the CGUOFT from clinical samples in future studies.
authors.affiliation: a Division of Clinical Psychology, Master of Behavioral Science, Department of Occupational Therapy , College of Medicine, Chang-Gung University , Taoyuan , Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yi-Hsiang
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.affiliation: b Child Development Center , Cardinal Tien Hospital , New Taipei City , Taiwan.
authors.forename: Tzu-Lan
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: a Division of Clinical Psychology, Master of Behavioral Science, Department of Occupational Therapy , College of Medicine, Chang-Gung University , Taoyuan , Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chi-Cheng
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044466:Asian People / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D011932:Reading; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012660:Semantics; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Chinese characters; letter fluency; perceptual shapes; verbal fluency