Section of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Glasgow, Yorkhill Hospital, Glasgow, UK.
Int J Methods Psychiatr Res. 2010 Dec;19(4):233-42. doi: 10.1002/mpr.324. Epub 2010 Aug 26.
The Manchester Child Attachment Story Task (MCAST) is a representational technique for assessing attachment patterns of young school-age children. We have developed a computerised version (the CMCAST) in which story stems are represented on the computer by the movement of simple screen 'dolls'. This paper reports on a preliminary validation study of the CMCAST method against the MCAST. Fifty-five children completed the MCAST and CMCAST six weeks apart in random order. It proved possible to rate the CMCAST if a simplified form of the MCAST coding system was used. Inter-rater reliability was achieved for both versions (kappa = 0.93 for MCAST and kappa = 0.91 for CMCAST). Agreement between the MCAST and CMCAST ratings of attachment security was kappa = 0.67. Costs for the MCAST and CMCAST were comparable. A school-based feasibility study of 86 children suggested that the CMCAST was acceptable and could be administered with up to five children simultaneously. This preliminary study suggests that the CMCAST can reliably reproduce a simplified form of MCAST coding. The computer format may be well adapted to some uses such as screening for large-scale epidemiological research.
曼彻斯特儿童依恋故事任务（MCAST）是一种评估幼儿依恋模式的代表性技术。我们开发了一种计算机化版本（CMCAST），其中故事干通过简单屏幕“玩偶”的移动在计算机上表示。本文报告了 CMCAST 方法对 MCAST 的初步验证研究。55 名儿童在六周内随机顺序完成了 MCAST 和 CMCAST。如果使用简化的 MCAST 编码系统，就可以对 CMCAST 进行评分。两种版本的评分者间信度均已达到（MCAST 的 Kappa=0.93，CMCAST 的 Kappa=0.91）。MCAST 和 CMCAST 依恋安全性评分之间的一致性为 Kappa=0.67。MCAST 和 CMCAST 的成本相当。对 86 名儿童的基于学校的可行性研究表明，CMCAST 是可以接受的，最多可以同时对五个儿童进行管理。这项初步研究表明，CMCAST 可以可靠地再现 MCAST 编码的简化形式。计算机格式可能非常适合某些用途，例如大规模流行病学研究的筛查。
