Dataset Information

Identifying culturally acceptable cognitive tests for use in remote northern Australia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A lack of culturally appropriate tests hampers accurate assessment of cognition in remote Australian Aboriginal communities. In Arnhem Land, this study employed a community consultation process to evaluate commonly used Western tests of executive function, memory, attention, and visuospatial function.

Methods

An initial consultation process and a follow-up pilot study resulted in the rejection of some common tests, the development of new tests, and culturally adapted versions of others. In the subsequent 30-person main trial, adult Aboriginal volunteers were examined on nine tests, plus the Kimberly Indigenous Cognitive Assessment screen, and a brief literacy test.

Results

Executive function, memory, and attention tests were found to group separately after an exploratory principal components analysis. Correlations between new tests and similar Kimberly screen items were not significant, but ceiling effects may be relevant. Six of 13 test scores were found to correlate with the literacy measure.

Conclusions

A selection of cognitive tests were identified that Aboriginal people found culturally acceptable and engaging. In particular, Self-Ordered Pointing, Trail-Making, a verbal-switching task, and a new test "Which car?" show promise for further development. This work may contribute to the need for culturally appropriate cognitive testing in Aboriginal communities.

SUBMITTER: Rock D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6740030 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Identifying culturally acceptable cognitive tests for use in remote northern Australia.

Rock Deborah D Price Ian R IR

BMC psychology 20190912 1

<h4>Background</h4>A lack of culturally appropriate tests hampers accurate assessment of cognition in remote Australian Aboriginal communities. In Arnhem Land, this study employed a community consultation process to evaluate commonly used Western tests of executive function, memory, attention, and visuospatial function.<h4>Methods</h4>An initial consultation process and a follow-up pilot study resulted in the rejection of some common tests, the development of new tests, and culturally adapted ve ...[more]

PMID: 31514741

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Dataset Information

Identifying culturally acceptable cognitive tests for use in remote northern Australia.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Identifying culturally acceptable cognitive tests for use in remote northern Australia.

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