Screening tools for dementia assessment in UK based ethnic minorities

Research output: Contribution to conferencePosterpeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Objective: The number of older people from Ethnic Minorities (EM) is expected to grow in the next decade; it is imperative that proper neuropsychological assessments be given. Cognitive tests for the older adults may exhibit cultural and linguistic bias in which certain cultural sub-groups are given a degree of disadvantage on these assessments. The present study investigated whether commonly used screening tools and assessments for dementia were cross-culturally appropriate for older adults from EM groups living in the U.K.
Method: Both South Asian and British participants (N=42) were assessed using the Cross-linguistic naming test, Mini-ACE, Visual Working Memory Binding Test, and the Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale. Multi-Ethnic Acculturation Scale and English proficiency measured with a self-rated scale were associated with the four respective. No interpreters-assisted were used.
Results: While members from EMs significantly differed from members of the general population in traditional neuropsychological tasks, their performance on the VSTMBT yielded results comparable to those drawn from the general population. Complex influences seem to drive the sensitivity of traditional neuropsychological tasks to sociocultural factors.
Conclusion: This is the first study that subjects the novel VSTMBT to investigation in EM groups. We found that older adults from EMs showed no impact of their sociocultural backgrounds on the function assessed by this test. However, other widely recommended tests for assessment of this population proved sensitive to the investigated sociocultural factors in ways that suggest that neuropsychological assessments must abandon the one-size-fits-all notion when it comes to dementia risk detection among EM groups.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 2024
EventInternational Neuropsychological Society - US, New York, United States
Duration: 14 Feb 202417 Feb 2024
https://the-ins.org/meetings/new-york-2024/

Conference

ConferenceInternational Neuropsychological Society
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityNew York
Period14/02/2417/02/24
Internet address

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • dementia
  • ethnic minorities
  • UK
  • screening tools

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