Kitchen Task Assessment (adult version)

Basic Information

• Title/Author(s):
  Kitchen Task Assessment (KTA)
  Developed by: Claudia K. Baum, Barbara A. Edwards, and Adina Maeir
  
  

• Year of Development & Publisher:
  
  

  • Developed in the early 1990s.
    
    

  • Originally described and validated in 1993 by Baum and Edwards.
    
    

  • Further validated and studied by Adina Maeir and others in the early 2000s.
    
    

  • Published research about the KTA is available in OTJR: Occupation, Participation and Health and other occupational therapy journals.
    
    

Assessment Details

• Identify TWO Types:
  
  

  • Performance-based
    
    

  • Criterion-referenced
    
    

• Cost & How to Access:
  
  

  • Cost:
    
    

    • Free if you have access to academic articles or textbooks that describe the KTA; no commercial publisher currently sells the KTA as a formal kit.
      
      

  • Access:
    
    

    • Test protocols are typically described in occupational therapy assessment manuals (e.g., Baum & Edwards, 1993; or through OT mental health textbooks).
      
      

    • Available summaries through university libraries or training manuals.
      
      

• Population & Setting:
  
  

  • Population:
    
    

    • Adults with cognitive impairments, particularly those due to dementia, stroke, traumatic brain injury (TBI), mental health conditions, or neurological conditions.
      
      

  • Setting:
    
    

    • Rehabilitation centers, community clinics, skilled nursing facilities, home health, and outpatient therapy.
      
      

• Purpose & Areas Assessed:
  
  

  • Purpose:
    
    

    • To assess an individual’s ability to perform a simple cooking task independently and to evaluate the impact of cognitive dysfunction on instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs).
      
      

  • Areas Assessed:
    
    

    • Planning and organization
      
      

    • Initiation of task
      
      

    • Sequencing
      
      

    • Judgment and safety
      
      

    • Completion
      
      

Administration & Scoring

• Administration:
  
  

  • Time Required:
    
    

    • 20–30 minutes depending on the client's cognitive abilities.
      
      

  • Format:
    
    

    • Client is instructed to prepare a simple recipe (e.g., cold cooked pudding mix).
      
      

    • Therapist observes and rates performance based on specific task components.
      
      

• User Qualifications:
  
  

  • Designed for administration by occupational therapists and other trained rehabilitation professionals familiar with functional cognitive assessments.
    
    

• Materials Required:
  
  

  • Pudding mix, milk, bowl, spoon, measuring utensils, and access to a kitchen area.
    
    

  • KTA form or rating sheet.
    
    

• Scoring:
  
  

  • Performance is scored in five cognitive domains:
    
    

    • Initiation
      
      

    • Organization
      
      

    • Performing all steps
      
      

    • Sequencing
      
      

    • Judgment and safety
      
      

  • Each area is scored on a 0–3 scale:
    
    

    • 0 = Independent
      
      

    • 1 = Supervision required
      
      

    • 2 = Verbal cueing or physical assistance required
      
      

    • 3 = Inability to perform
      
      

  • Higher total scores indicate greater levels of cognitive impairment.
    
    

Psychometrics/Standardization

• Reliability:
  
  

  • Studies show good interrater reliability when standardized procedures are followed (Baum & Edwards, 1993; Katz et al., 2000).
    
    

  • Scoring consistency improves with therapist training.
    
    

• Validity:
  
  

  • Strong construct validity: KTA scores are correlated with global cognitive measures like the MMSE and performance-based functional tasks (Baum & Edwards, 1993; Hartman-Maeir et al., 2009).
    
    

  • Sensitive in detecting functional cognitive deficits in individuals with dementia and post-stroke cognitive impairment.
    
    

• Norms:
  
  

  • While there is no large normative database, performance expectations are based on observations of independent adults without cognitive impairment.
    
    

  • Interpretation is done relative to functional independence standards for the task.
    
    

Critical Thinking Sections

Strengths

• Performance-based — Captures how cognitive deficits actually affect real-world functional tasks.
  
  

• Quick and practical — Completed in less than 30 minutes.
  
  

• Low cost — Materials are inexpensive and easy to obtain.
  
  

• Highly sensitive to early functional decline — More effective than traditional paper-pencil cognitive screening tests for detecting subtle executive dysfunction.
  
  

• Flexible across settings — Can be administered in clinic kitchens, home environments, or therapy gyms.
  
  

Weaknesses

• Limited to a single task — May not capture cognitive impairments that emerge during more complex IADLs or multitasking.
  
  

• Somewhat subjective scoring — Therapist judgment influences ratings; requires experience and training to maintain reliability.
  
  

• Limited cultural validity — Task familiarity (making pudding) might vary by cultural background.
  
  

• Environmental influence — Distractions or unfamiliar kitchen setups may impact performance.