Department of Informatics, Ionian University, Corfu, Greece.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2020;1194:285-291. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-32622-7_26.
Cognitive assessment is an essential element of the screening process of Alzheimer's disease. The prevalence of dementia is increasing and so are the numbers of immigrants and elderly population relocating and in need for health diagnosis and treatment. However, most of the psychometric tools used in psychological assessments are time-consuming and suffer from biases of language and cultural restrictions.
Our objective was to create a computerized version of a multicultural cognitive screening test, which would simplify cognitive assessment of elderly multicultural population, as routine part of health check-up procedures.
The application was implemented in Android Studio and was written in Java code with the use of a home PC and a tablet. Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS) was chosen. RUDAS is a cognitive screening tool with good psychological characteristics, which was created for multicultural and bilingual populations and was free to download. The collaboration with an authorized psychologist was essential for the ethics of the psychometric science.
The complete computerized version of RUDAS will include the six-item questionnaire, assessing specific cognitive domains which are in high correlation with Alzheimer's screening process, such as registration, visuospatial orientation, praxis, visuo-constructional drawing, judgment, memory recall and language.
The utilization of informatics in making cognitive assessment a user-friendly, validated, not time- or cost-consuming procedure would add value to psychometric tools which still are administered with "pen and paper", when this proceeds with respect to the ethics of the science.
认知评估是阿尔茨海默病筛查过程的重要组成部分。痴呆症的患病率在不断上升，移民和老年人口的数量也在增加，他们需要进行健康诊断和治疗。然而，心理评估中使用的大多数心理计量工具都很耗时，并且存在语言和文化限制的偏见。
我们的目标是创建一种多文化认知筛查测试的计算机化版本，这将简化对多文化老年人群的认知评估，作为健康检查程序的常规部分。
该应用程序是在 Android Studio 中实现的，使用 Java 代码编写，并使用家用 PC 和平板电脑。选择了罗尔兰通用痴呆评估量表（RUDAS）。RUDAS 是一种具有良好心理特征的认知筛查工具，专为多文化和双语人群创建，可免费下载。与授权心理学家的合作对于心理计量科学的伦理至关重要。
完整的 RUDAS 计算机化版本将包括评估与阿尔茨海默病筛查过程高度相关的特定认知领域的六个项目问卷，例如登记、视空间定向、执行、视空间构图、判断、记忆回忆和语言。
将信息学用于使认知评估成为用户友好、经过验证、不耗时或不昂贵的程序，将为仍在使用“纸笔”进行评估的心理计量工具增加价值，同时尊重科学的伦理。
