Abstract

FREITAS, Sandra et al. Adaptation studies of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) to the portuguese population. Aval. psicol. [online]. 2010, vol.9, n.3, pp.345-357. ISSN 1677-0471.

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is a cognitive screening instrument with greater sensitivity than the Mini- Mental State Examination (MMSE) to milder stages of cognitive decline, especially to Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), which often progresses to Dementia. This paper describes the stages of cultural adaptation of MoCA to the Portuguese population and analyzes the equivalence between the original and the Portuguese final version. The process involved translation, linguistic improvement of the instrument and manual, studies with the experimental version, revision and adjustments required to finalize the Portuguese version, and analysis of equivalence to the original version. Studies corroborate MoCA’s good psychometric properties, its validity, clinical utility, and equivalence to the original instrument in various levels considered. The MoCA is a privileged instrument for early detection of cognitive decline that is properly adapted to the Portuguese population.

Keywords : Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA); Cognitive Screening; Mild Cognitive Impairment; Alzheimer´s Disease.

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