I would like to put a reference to \cellcolor{blue!25} in the table's caption. Is it possible? Also why is the table so massive even in a makebox? I don't want to use resize, looks unprofessional.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor}
\usepackage{multicol}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}[t]
\centering
\makebox[\textwidth]{
\begin{tabular}{lccccccc}
\toprule
&\multicolumn{6}{c}{Care Type} \\
\midrule
\vspace{3pt}
&\textbf{Direct care} & \textbf{Housekeeping} & \textbf{Mealtimes} & \textbf{Medication rounds} & \textbf{Miscellaneous} & \textbf{Personal care} &\textbf{Overall} \\
\textbf{Correlation coefficient $r$} & 0.525 & 0.580 & 0.914 & 0.678 & 0.333 & 0.103& 0.5663\\
\textbf{p-value} & \cellcolor{blue!25}$ <$0.001 & \cellcolor{blue!25} 0.015 & \cellcolor{blue!25} $<$0.001 & \cellcolor{blue!25} $<$0.001 & \cellcolor{blue!25} 0.004 & 0.7378& \cellcolor{blue!25}$ <$0.001\\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}}
\label{tab:r_p_vals}
\caption{Correlation coefficients and p-values for time versus surface contacts. Where \cellcolor{blue!25} represents a statistically significant value }
\end{table}
Where the values in the blue cells represent a statistically significant value.? – Gonzalo Medina Mar 30 '13 at 18:43\makeboxdoesn't affect the size of the table (it just hides it and allows it to stick into the margins) This version is wide as you have gone back toccolumns which do not allow line breaking so each column is as wide as its heading. In previous questions with this same table you hadpcolumns that allowed the headings to wrap. – David Carlisle Mar 30 '13 at 18:52