Abstract
Objective
Digital, remote, cognitive assessment has become crucial for efficient screening of patients cognitive concerns. The Boston Cognitive Assessment (BoCA) is a brief, digital, global screening instrument that can be administered both in-office on a laptop, or remotely from patients’ homes. Potential differences in performance from completing the BoCA in-office versus completing it at home remain uninvestigated. As such, this study aimed to compared performances across these settings among demographically and cognitively matched patient samples.
Method
Data from 35 cognitively healthy participants who completed the BoCA (18 administered in-office; 17 remotely administered) were retroactively collected; groups were matched by age, education, gender, ethnicity, and global cognitive functioning based on their scores on a separate screening instrument. Overall BoCA scores (total = 30) as well as performance on the eight BoCA subscales (Immediate Recall, Delayed Recall, Verbal Reasoning, Visuospatial Reasoning, Executive Functions, Attention, Mental Math, and Orientation) were compared using nonparametric testing.
Results
A Contingency analysis and an independent samples Mann–Whitney U test confirmed the demographic and cognitive similarities between the two groups. Comparisons of BoCA scores revealed no differences in total scores or any of the BoCA subscales between those who completed the BoCA in-office and those who completed it remotely.
Conclusion
Results from the present study suggest that performance on the BoCA is not influenced by one’s environment at the time of administration. This further adds to the utility of the BoCA as a remote, self-administered, global screening instrument, and may support its adoption in settings where serial screening is indicated.