Teleneuropsicologia

: fiabilidade e aceitação em provas de memória

Abstract

Background: The use of telehealth in psychological interventions has experienced a large increase in recent years. This form of contact with the patient has implications to consider, especially in neuropsychological assessment. Therefore, the reliability of neuropsychological tests in this format, as well as their acceptance, must be studied. In neuropsychology, there are several situations in which there is a need to monitor and re-evaluate people over time, particularly in regards aging. Repeated assessments over time may decrease their validity, thereby, alternative versions of assessment tests are recommended. The possibility of assessments and reassessments in face-to-face formats and with the use of online communication technologies, generates the need for instruments with alternative versions with good reliability for online application. However, in Portugal, few studies have been published either regarding the reliability and acceptance of telehealth or alternative versions of the most used neuropsychological assessment instruments. Study 1: Methodology: Two stories comparable to the two most used in terms of structure and content parity were developed and were subsequently evaluated by a group of experts. A pre-test was carried out to create provisional quoting criteria. The two stories in use and the two new ones were applied to 80 adults without suspected cognitive deterioration. Results: New stories have acceptable internal consistency values. The results demonstrated moderate positive correlations between the original paragraphs and those in the alternative versions. There were also found significant differences between the performance results in the alternative stories and the original ones, in the two moments of recall. Conclusion: The correlations obtained indicate that the new stories can be a valid alternative to the original version, in cases where a re-evaluation is needed. Given the differences in terms of scoring, results from the original stories and alternative stories should not be directly compared. The new stories should also be validated for the Portuguese population, to obtain normative values. Study 2: Methodology: The sample consisted of 44 adults without suspected cognitive deterioration. They were assessed by cognitive measures and questionnaires (sociodemographic data, memory complaints and computer literacy), functionality, depressive symptoms and satisfaction with the teleconsultation using videoconference and in-person approaches. Results: The results do not reveal significant differences between the performances of the verbal memory tests in the two conditions. Teleconsultation satisfaction was high but did not translate to a greater preference for this option. Conclusion: The neuropsychological assessment of auditory-verbal episodic memory through telehealth is viable and well accepted by the older Portuguese population and the data indicates that the obtained results are reliable as a measure of episodic memory.

Date of Award	17 Nov 2023
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Filipa Ribeiro (Supervisor)