TY - JOUR
T1 - Supervised Digital Neuropsychological Tests for Cognitive Decline in Older Adults
T2 - Usability and Clinical Validity Study
AU - Lunardini, Francesca
AU - Luperto, Matteo
AU - Romeo, Marta
AU - Basilico, Nicola
AU - Daniele, Katia
AU - Azzolino, Domenico
AU - Damanti, Sarah
AU - Abbate, Carlo
AU - Mari, Daniela
AU - Cesari, Matteo
AU - Borghese, Nunzio Alberto
AU - Ferrante, Simona
PY - 2020/9/21
Y1 - 2020/9/21
N2 - BACKGROUND: Dementia is a major and growing health problem, and early diagnosis is key to its management. OBJECTIVE: With the ultimate goal of providing a monitoring tool that could be used to support the screening for cognitive decline, this study aims to develop a supervised, digitized version of 2 neuropsychological tests: Trail Making Test and Bells Test. The system consists of a web app that implements a tablet-based version of the tests and consists of an innovative vocal assistant that acts as the virtual supervisor for the execution of the test. A replay functionality is added to allow inspection of the user's performance after test completion. METHODS: To deploy the system in a nonsupervised environment, extensive functional testing of the platform was conducted, together with a validation of the tablet-based tests. Such validation had the two-fold aim of evaluating system usability and acceptance and investigating the concurrent validity of computerized assessment compared with the corresponding paper-and-pencil counterparts. RESULTS: The results obtained from 83 older adults showed high system acceptance, despite the patients' low familiarity with technology. The system software was successfully validated. A concurrent validation of the system reported good ability of the digitized tests to retain the same predictive power of the corresponding paper-based tests. CONCLUSIONS: Altogether, the positive results pave the way for the deployment of the system to a nonsupervised environment, thus representing a potential efficacious and ecological solution to support clinicians in the identification of early signs of cognitive decline.
AB - BACKGROUND: Dementia is a major and growing health problem, and early diagnosis is key to its management. OBJECTIVE: With the ultimate goal of providing a monitoring tool that could be used to support the screening for cognitive decline, this study aims to develop a supervised, digitized version of 2 neuropsychological tests: Trail Making Test and Bells Test. The system consists of a web app that implements a tablet-based version of the tests and consists of an innovative vocal assistant that acts as the virtual supervisor for the execution of the test. A replay functionality is added to allow inspection of the user's performance after test completion. METHODS: To deploy the system in a nonsupervised environment, extensive functional testing of the platform was conducted, together with a validation of the tablet-based tests. Such validation had the two-fold aim of evaluating system usability and acceptance and investigating the concurrent validity of computerized assessment compared with the corresponding paper-and-pencil counterparts. RESULTS: The results obtained from 83 older adults showed high system acceptance, despite the patients' low familiarity with technology. The system software was successfully validated. A concurrent validation of the system reported good ability of the digitized tests to retain the same predictive power of the corresponding paper-based tests. CONCLUSIONS: Altogether, the positive results pave the way for the deployment of the system to a nonsupervised environment, thus representing a potential efficacious and ecological solution to support clinicians in the identification of early signs of cognitive decline.
KW - aging
KW - Bells Test
KW - computerized testing
KW - dementia
KW - early diagnosis
KW - eHealth
KW - mild cognitive impairment
KW - neuropsychological assessment
KW - Trail Making Test
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091469659&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85091469659&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2196/17963
DO - 10.2196/17963
M3 - Article
C2 - 32955442
AN - SCOPUS:85091469659
VL - 8
JO - JMIR mHealth and uHealth
JF - JMIR mHealth and uHealth
SN - 2291-5222
IS - 9
M1 - e17963
ER -