Table 4.
Literature review summary and classification
| Type of study | Most relevant results | n | Age, mean (SD) | Level of evidence | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cullum et al. (2014). Teleneuropsychology: Evidence for video teleconference-based neuropsychological assessment. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society: JINS, 20(10), 1028–1033. | Individual case–control study | ● MCI patients, probable ad patients and cognitively healthy controls were successfully differentiated using an NPS battery by VC. ● Very similar results through VC and face-to-face, with significant intraclass correlations (mean = 0.74; range: 0.55–0.91) between test results. |
202 | 68.5 (9.5) | 3b |
| Wadsworth et al. (2018). Validity of teleneuropsychological assessment in older patients with cognitive disorders. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology: The Official Journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists, 33(8), 1040–1045. | Individual case–control study | ● Results derived from tests administered by teleNP can distinguish between people with and without cognitive impairment; similar to face-to-face assessment. | 197 | 66.10 (9.21) | 3b |
| Castanho et al. (2017). When new technology is an answer for old problems: The use of videoconferencing in cognitive aging assessment. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease Reports, 1(1), 15–21. | SR of cohort studies | ● Reliability of cognitive testing and clinical diagnosis of major cognitive disorder by VC. | — | — | 2a |
| Galusha-Glasscock, Horton, Weiner, and Cullum (2016). Video teleconference administration of the repeatable battery for the assessment of neuropsychological status. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology: The Official Journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists, 31(1), 8–11. | Individual case–control study | ● Similar results were obtained from RBANS in teleNP and face-to-face modalities with high correlations in subjects with and without cognitive impairment. | 18 | 69.67 (7.76) | 3b |
| Brearly, T. (2017). Neuropsychological test administration by videoconference: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Neuropsychology Review, 27(2), 174–186. | SR of cohort studies | ● Subgroup analyses indicated that VC scores for tasks without time limit and those that allow for stimulus repetition decreased by 0.1 standard deviations compared to scores obtained face-to-face. ● Connection speed has an effect on variability between administration modalities. |
— | — | 2a |
| Miller, J. B., & Barr, W. B. (2017). The technology crisis in neuropsychology. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology: The Official Journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists, 32(5), 541–554. https://doi.org/10.1093/arclin/acx050 | Expert opinion | Potential benefits of laboratory-based assessments, remote assessments, and passive and high-frequency data collection tools rooted in technology are discussed, along with several relevant examples and how these technologies might be deployed. Broader issues of data security and privacy are discussed. | — | — | 5 |
| Grosch, M. C., Gottlieb, M. C., & Cullum, C. M. (2011). Initial practice recommendations for teleneuropsychology. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 25(7), 1119–1133. https://doi.org/10.1080/13854046.2011.609840 | Expert opinion | Outline of practical and ethical considerations to assist practitioners in providing safe, ethical, and competent care to their patients by proposing some initial practice recommendations. | — | — | 5 |
| Cullum, C., Weiner, M., Gehrmann, H., & Hynan, L. (2006). Feasibility of telecognitive assessment in dementia. Assessment, 13(4), 385–390. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17050908 | Individual case–control study | Measures of verbal learning and memory, simple attention, letter and category fluency, and confrontation naming showed excellent agreement between teleNP and face-to-face testing. | 33 | 73.3 (6.9) | 3b |
| Grosch, M. C., Weiner, M. F., Hynan, L. S., Shore, J., & Cullum, C. M. (2015). Video teleconference-based neurocognitive screening in geropsychiatry. Psychiatry Research, 225(3), 734–735. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4410696/ | Individual case–control study | Brief teleNP screening is feasible in an outpatient geropsychiatry clinic (Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), clock drawing test, and digit span). | 8 | Range = 67–85 |
3b |
| Hildebrand, R., Chow, H., Williams, C., Nelson, M., & Wass, P. (2004). Feasibility of neuropsychological testing of older adults via videoconference: Implications for assessing the capacity for independent living. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare, 10(3), 130–134. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1258/135763304323070751 | Individual case–control study | Memory and learning, letter fluency, expressive word knowledge, reasoning, verbal attention and visual–spatial processing were examined. Scores for expressive word knowledge were similar in the two test conditions, although larger differences were found in the visual–spatial processing scores. | 29 | 68 (8) | 3b |
| Lindauer, A., Seelye, A., Lyons, B., Dodge, H. H., Mattek, N., Mincks, K., Erten-Lyons, D. (2017). Dementia care comes home: Patient and caregiver assessment via telemedicine. Gerontologist, 57(5), e85–e93. | Individual case–control study | The reliability of all measures in the study, with patients with mild to major neurocognitive disorder, ranged from good to excellent. The results suggest that this measure can be used with confidence in telemedicine dementia assessment and care. | 33 ad 33 caregivers |
71.6 (11.6) 65.3 (9.6) |
3b |
| Kirkwood, K. T., Peck, D. F., & Bennie, L. (2000). The consistency of neuropsychological assessments performed via telecommunication and face to face. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare, 6(3), 147–151. | Individual case–control study | Cognitive assessments of adult psychiatric patients can be carried out as reliably via teleconsultation as they can face-to-face. | 27 | 46 (9.5) | 3b |
| Wadsworth, H. E., Galusha-Glasscock, J. M., Womack, K. B., Quiceno, M., Weiner, M. F., Hynan, L. S., Shore, J., & Cullum, C. M. (2016). Remote Neuropsychological assessment in rural american indians with and without cognitive impairment. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology: The Official Journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists, 31(5), 420–425. | Individual case–control study | Small but significant difference with better face-to-face performance (t = −9.60, p = < .001). ICC = 0.83 (excellent). Results add to the expanding literature supporting the feasibility and reliability of remote video conference-based neuropsychological test administration and extend findings to American Indians. |
84 | 64.89 (9.73) | 3B |
| Loh, P. K., Ramesh, P., Maher, S., Saligari, J., Flicker, L., & Goldswain, P. (2004). Can patients with dementia be assessed at a distance? The use of telehealth and standardized assessments. Internal Medicine Journal, 34(5), 239–242 | Individual case–control study | Remote assessments with MMSE and GDS using telehealth methods yielded similar results to direct assessments. However, there was a moderate difference between face-to-face and telehealth assessments in some subjects, which could influence clinical decision-making. | 20 | Mean = 82; range = 72–95 |
3b |
| Vahia, I. V., Ng, B., Camacho, A., Cardenas, V., Cherner, M., Depp, C. A., & Agha, Z. (2015). Telepsychiatry for neurocognitive testing in older rural Latino adults. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 23(7), 666–670 | Individual case–control study | Using mixed-effects models, no significant difference between testing modalities. | 22 | 71.4 (10.6) | 3b |
| Turkstra, L. S., Quinn-Padron, M., Johnson, J. E., Workinger, M. S., & Antoniotti, N. (2012). In-person versus telehealth assessment of discourse ability in adults with traumatic brain injury. The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 27(6), 424–432. | Individual case–control study | These preliminary results support the use of TH for the assessment of discourse ability in adults with TBI, at least for individuals with sufficient cognitive skills to follow TH procedures. | 20 | Range = 21–69 | 3b |
| Marra, D. E., Hamlet, K. M., Bauer, R. M., & Bowers, D. (2020). Validity of teleneuropsychology for older adults in response to COVID-19: A systematic and critical review. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 1–42. | SR of cohort studies | Test-level analysis suggests that certain cognitive screeners (MMSE, MoCA), language tests (BNT, letter fluency), attention/working memory tasks (digit span total), and memory tests (HVLT-R) have strong support for TNP validity. Other measures are promising but lack sufficient support at this time. | — | — | 2a |
| Franco-Martin M. A., Bernardo-Ramos M., & Soto-Perez F. (2012). Cyber-neuropsychology: Application of new technologies in neuropsychological evaluation. Actas Espanolas de Psychiatria, 40(6), 308–314. | Individual case–control study | The SICP-S achieved equivalent results for videoconference and the traditional applications. | 30 | 50.03 (5.89) | 3b |
| Vestal, L., Smith-Olinde, L., Hicks, G., Hutton, T., & Hart, J. (2006). Efficacy of language assessment in Alzheimer’s disease: Comparing in-person examination and telemedicine. Clinical Interventions in Aging, 1(4), 467–471. | Individual case–control study | This research demonstrates that assessment of language skills in mild ad patients can be accomplished via teleNP and achieve results that are not significantly different from face-to-face assessments. | 10 | 73.9 (3.7) | 3b |