Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Dec 1;33(8):1040-1045.
doi: 10.1093/arclin/acx140.

Validity of Teleneuropsychological Assessment in Older Patients with Cognitive Disorders

Hannah E Wadsworth  1 , Kaltra Dhima  1 , Kyle B Womack  1   2 , John Hart Jr  1   2 , Myron F Weiner  1 , Linda S Hynan  1   3 , C Munro Cullum  1   2   4
Affiliations

Validity of Teleneuropsychological Assessment in Older Patients with Cognitive Disorders

Hannah E Wadsworth et al. Arch Clin Neuropsychol. .

Abstract

Objective: The feasibility and reliability of neuropsychological assessment at a distance have been demonstrated, but the validity of this testing medium has not been adequately demonstrated. The purpose of this study was to determine the ability of video teleconferencing administration of neuropsychological measures (teleneuropsychology) in discriminating cognitively impaired from non-impaired groups of older adults. It was predicted that measures administered via video teleconference would distinguish groups and that the magnitude of differences between impaired and non-impaired groups would be similar to group differences achieved in traditional administration.

Methods: The sample consisted of 197 older subjects, separated into two groups, with and without cognitive impairment. The cognitive impairment group included 78 individuals with clinical diagnoses of mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease. All participants completed counterbalanced neuropsychological testing using alternate test forms in both a teleneuropsychology and a traditional face-to-face (FTF) administration condition. Tests were selected based upon their common use in dementia evaluations, brevity, and assessment of multiple cognitive domains. Results from FTF and teleneuropsychology test conditions were compared using individual repeated measures ANCOVA, controlling for age, education, gender, and depression scores.

Results: All ANCOVA models revealed significant main effects of group and a non-significant interaction between group and administration condition. All ANCOVA models revealed non-significant main effects for administration condition, except category fluency.

Conclusions: Results derived from teleneuropsychologically administered tests can distinguish between cognitively impaired and non-impaired individuals similar to traditional FTF assessment. This adds to the growing teleneuropsychology literature by supporting the validity of remote assessments in aging populations.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

References

    1. Alzheimer’s Association, 2016. (2016). Alzheimer’s disease facts and figures. http://www.alz.org/facts/overview.asp. - PubMed
    1. Barr W. B. (2003). Neuropsychological testing of high school athletes. Preliminary norms and test-retest indices. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 18, 91–101. 10.1016/S0887-6177(01)00185-8. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Benedict R. H. B., Schretlen D., Groninger L., & Brandt J. (1998). Hopkins verbal learning test-revised: Normative data and analysis of inter-form and test-retest reliability. Clinical Neuropsychology, 12, 43–55. doi:1385-4046/98/1201-043. - PubMed
    1. Bird C. M., Papadopoulou K., Ricciardelli P., Rossor M. N., & Cipolotti L. (2004). Monitoring cognitive changes: Psychometric properties of six cognitive tests. The British Journal of Clinical Psychology/the British Psychological Society, 43, 197–210. 10.1348/014466504323088051. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chodosh J., Petitti D., Elliott M., Hays R., Crooks V., Ruben D., et al. . (2004). Physician recognition of cognitive impairment: Evaluating the need for improvement. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 52, 1051–1059. - PubMed