Macarthur Competence Assessment Tool for Clinical Research (MACCAT–CR)

The MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Clinical Research (MacCAT–CR) provides a semistructured assessment format for evaluating abilities related to the decisional capacity of subjects in clinical research. Four component abilities of a decisional capacity standard are assessed: understanding, appreciation, reasoning, and choice. Administration of the instrument begins with the disclosure of selected information about a given research project, on the basis of which these abilities are measured. The MacCAT–CR, which takes 15 to 20 minutes to administer, has demonstrated good reliability and validity and has been used both to explore the relative abilities of different subject groups and to assess the capacities of particular research subjects prior to entry into studies.

Informed consent of research subjects is a nearly universal requirement of ethical codes, federal regulations, ...