![]() valid De Souza, Costa-Alexandre, & De Brito-Guirardello, 2017). reliable) and the extent to which it accurately measures what it was designed to measure (i.e. By investigating the psychometric properties of the MoCA, this study aims to determine the degree to which this tool can be interpreted consistently across different samples and contexts (i.e. Moreover, it investigates the MoCA’s discriminant validity in terms of its capacity to identify cognitive impairment in a sample of patients with dual diagnosis, namely HIV plus a psychiatric or neurocognitive condition, compared to a healthy control sample. Consequently, our study aims to address some of these gaps and contribute to the limited body of literature on the MoCA in South Africa by exploring the influence of age, years of education and gender, on total MoCA score, and internal consistency, in a sample of South African adults that speak English as a second or third language and have been educated in public schools. This may be because of methodological variations and limitations, such as the absence of comparisons between clinical and control samples (Beath, Asmal, Van den Heuvel, & Seedat, 2018 Joska et al., 2016 Rademeyer & Joubert, 2016), and small sample sizes (Hakkers et al., 2018 Rademeyer & Joubert, 2016 Robbins et al., 2013), which limited these studies’ generalisability and comparability. While the MoCA has garnered international recognition as a valid brief cognitive screening test, the data from the studies conducted in South Africa have been contradictory and inconclusive in terms of its utility, specifically for identifying HIV-related neuropsychological impairment. Beyond its original scope, the potential of the MoCA for detecting cognitive impairment has also been explored in a range of medical conditions associated with neuropsychological symptoms, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV Joska et al., 2016 Robbins et al., 2013). The MoCA has been translated into nearly 100 languages ( ), which has promoted its widespread use. Subsequently, the MoCA has been widely used in various socioeconomic, cultural and linguistic contexts, including Portugal (Freitas, Simoes, Alves, & Santana, 2012), Italy (Milanini et al., 2016), North America (Rossetti, Lacritz, Cullum, & Weiner, 2011), Brazil (Cecato, Martinelli, Izbicki, Yassuda, & Aprahamian, 2016), China (Zhang et al., 2016) and South Africa (Robbins et al., 2013). The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is a brief screening tool developed to detect mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which can be a precursor to dementia (Nasreddine et al., 2005). Keywords: HAD HAND HIV Montreal Cognitive Assessment psychometrics screening. The MoCA appears not to be a useful screening or diagnostic tool in samples with similar characteristics. The total MoCA score was not a significant predictor of diagnostic status, indicating poor discriminant validity of the MoCA in this sample. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.64 revealing moderate internal consistency. Total MoCA scores were significantly correlated with years of education ( p < 0.001) and age ( p = 0.007) but not gender. The clinical sample ( n = 83) included patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and a comorbid disorder, either psychiatric ( n = 70) or neurocognitive ( n = 13). The control sample ( n = 89) included healthy South African adults who speak English as a second or third language and who have been educated in public schools. ![]() All participants completed the English MoCA version 8.1. This study analysed secondary quantitative data, utilising a cross-sectional, between-subjects design. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate (1) the influence of demographic variables (age, years of education, and gender) on total MoCA scores (2) the internal consistency reliability of the test and (3) the discriminant validity of the total MoCA score. However, its psychometric properties have not been sufficiently studied in the South African context. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is widely used to screen for cognitive impairment and has shown a good capacity to identify cognitive impairment. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution,Īnd reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ![]() Montreal Cognitive Assessment: Exploring the impact of demographic variables, internal consistency reliability and discriminant validity in a South African sampleĮlisabeth Kirkbride, Aline Ferreira-Correia, Mlinganisi Sibandze African Journal of Psychological Assessment, 4(0), a73. Montreal Cognitive Assessment: Exploring the impact of demographic variables, internal consistency reliability and discriminant validity in a South African sample. Kirkbride, E., Ferreira-Correia, A., & Sibandze, M.
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