Validation of the Arabic version of the 16-item free and cued recall test among patients with schizophrenia

Several subjective scales have been used to measure verbal memory in patients with schizophrenia, such as the 16-item free and cued recall test. This study aimed to validate the Arabic version of the 16 item free and cued recall test among patients with schizophrenia. A cross-sectional study was performed among 172 patients with schizophrenia and 60 healthy controls at the Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross, Lebanon. The 16 item free and cued recall test was used to assess verbal memory in patients with schizophrenia. The internal consistency of the Free and Cued Recall test was 0.722, and the factor analysis revealed a 2-factor solution accounting for 79.35% of the variance. A significant difference between schizophrenia patients and healthy controls was found across all recall items, except for cued recall 3 and delayed cued recall, with patients scoring lower overall. Additionally, the test positively correlated with BACS verbal memory (r = 0.352, p < 0.001) and working memory (r = 0.421, p < 0.001), as well as the MOCA test (r = 0.474, p < 0.001). Test-retest reliability indicated moderate stability, with Pearson correlations ranging from 0.33 to 0.79 and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) between 0.46 and 0.59. The Free and Cued Recall test exhibited satisfactory psychometric properties, including adequate internal consistency, good construct validity, and strong concurrent validity.