Culturally Sensitive Screening for Cognitive Impairment: A Review of MoCA Instructions in English

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is a widely used tool to screen for cognitive impairment, and its potential availability in many culturally adapted and translated versions increases the chances of offering linguistically and culturally sensitive screening to diverse populations. However, further studies are needed to determine if MoCA can be considered a truly cross-cultural fair test.

A systematic review was conducted to identify linguistically and culturally adapted versions of the original MoCA full version. The search included three databases and the official MoCA website, resulting in the identification of 86 culturally different versions of MoCA. Of these, 74 versions were found on the MoCA website, with 25 having a corresponding paper detailing the translation process.

The quality of the cultural adaptation process varied among different available versions, as well as the number of items adapted in each language version. Additionally, culturally adapted versions of MoCA were unevenly distributed across different geographic areas.

This study highlights the importance of considering cultural differences when adapting cognitive assessment tools like MoCA to ensure their validity and reliability. The availability of many linguistically and culturally adapted versions of MoCA is a significant step towards making these assessments more accessible and effective for diverse populations. However, further research is needed to identify the best approach for ensuring that MoCA can be considered a truly cross-cultural fair test.

In conclusion, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) has been widely used as a tool for cognitive assessment, and its availability in many culturally adapted versions is an important step towards making it more accessible and effective for diverse populations. However, further research is needed to determine if MoCA can be considered a truly cross-cultural fair test.

Moca instructions english