Lessons From the Coronavirus Disease Experience: Research Participant and Staff Satisfaction With Remote Cognitive Evaluations.

OBJECTIVE: In New York City in 2020 the pandemic shut down in-person research. Icahn School of Medicine's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center transitioned longitudinal evaluations from in-person to telephone to enhance equity of access. We assessed diverse research participants' and clinical research coordinators' (CRC) satisfaction with remote evaluation and examined sociodemographic, cognitive, and behavioral factors that might impact satisfaction. METHODS: Data collected: 241 participants with Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) = 0/0.5 (3/2020 to 6/2021). A Telehealth Satisfaction Questionnaire for CRCs and participants was administered at the end of remote evaluations. We compared Telehealth Satisfaction Questionnaire items by CDR and Geriatric Depression Scale. RESULTS: Participants' mean age was 78.4, 61.4% were females, 16.2% were Hispanic, 17.1% Asian, 15.8% were non-Hispanic black, and 72.6% CDR = 0. Participant satisfaction was high [14.1 ± 1.4 (out of 15)] but was lower among those with depression. CRC satisfaction was high [16.9 ± 1.8 (out of 18)] but was lower concerning the ability to explain the test battery and interact with participants with CDR = 0.5. CONCLUSION: Telephone research assessments provide flexibility in a hybrid model. They offer equitable access to research participation for those who do not use computer technology and may promote the retention of diverse elderly research participants.

The use of subjective cognitive complaints for detecting mild cognitive impairment in older adults across cultural and linguistic groups: A comparison of the Cognitive Function Instrument to the Montreal Cognitive Assessment.

INTRODUCTION: This pilot study aims to explore the psychometric properties of the Cognitive Function Instrument (CFI) as a measure of subjective cognitive complaints (SCC) and its performance in distinguishing mild cognitive impairment (MCI) from normal control (NC) compared to an objective cognitive screen (Montreal Cognitive Assessment [MoCA]). METHODS: One hundred ninety-four community-dwelling non-demented older adults with racial/ethnic diversity were included. Unidimensionality and internal consistency of the CFI were examined using factor analysis, Cronbach's alpha, and McDonald's omega. Logistic regression models and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis were used to examine the performance of CFI. RESULTS: The CFI demonstrated adequate internal consistency; however, the fit for a unidimensional model was suboptimal. The CFI distinguished MCI from NC alone or in combination with MoCA. ROC analysis showed comparable performance of the CFI and the MoCA. DISCUSSION: Our findings support the use of CFI as a brief and easy-to-use screen to detect MCI in culturally/linguistically diverse older adults. HIGHLIGHT: What is the key scientific question or problem of central interest of the paper? Subjective cognitive complaints (SCCs) are considered the earliest sign of dementia in older adults. However, it is unclear if SCC are equivalent in different cultures. The Cognitive Function Instrument (CFI) is a 14-item measure of SCC. This study provides pilot data suggesting that CFI is sensitive for detecting mild cognitive impairment in a cohort of older adults with racial/ethnic diversity. Comparing performance, CFI demonstrates comparable sensitivity to the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, an objective cognitive screening test. Overall, SCC may provide a non-invasive, easy-to-use method to flag possible cognitive impairment in both research and clinical settings.

Smartphone ownership and usage in Chinese- and English-speaking older adults.

BACKGROUND: Data collection by smartphone is becoming more widespread in healthcare research. Previous studies reported racial/ethnical differences in the use of digital health technology. However, cross-language group comparison (Chinese- and English-speaking older adults) were not performed in these studies. This project will expand to smartphone technology use in diverse older populations with a focus on Chinese American older adults who are monolingual Chinese-speakers. METHOD: The Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) evaluates diverse older populations using National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center's Uniform Data Set (NACC UDS). The UDS has different language versions, including English and Chinese. The evaluation includes a medical examination, cognitive assessments, and a research blood draw. Smartphone ownership and usage were captured using a local questionnaire developed by our ADRC. The questionnaire, available in English and Chinese, was administered by our ADRC coordinators during the COVID-19 pandemic. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to examine differences in technology ownership and usages between the two language groups, while controlling for age, gender, education, and cognitive status (measured by Clinical Dementia Rating). RESULT: 33 Chinese- and 117 English-speaking older adults who received a diagnosis of normal cognition or mild cognitive impairment at consensus were included in the data analysis. Results reveal a high prevalence of smartphone ownership in our Chinese- (100%) and English-speaking older participants (86.3%). Participants in both language groups use mobile technology for a wide range of purposes, such as getting news and other information (Chinese=90.9%; English=87.2%), sending/receiving text (Chinese=97.0%; English=96.6%), watching videos/TV shows (Chinese=78.8%; English=69.2%), and taking classes (Chinese=57.5%; English=57.3%). However, Chinese-speaking older adults were less likely than English-speaking older adults to use mobile technology to post their own reviews or comments online (Chinese=9.1%; English=39.3%, p=0.001), download or purchase an app (Chinese=21.2%; English=70.9%, p<0.001), track health/ fitness via apps/website (Chinese=12.1%; English=47.9%, p<0.001) and manage/receive medical care (Chinese=15.2%; English=67.5%, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Our findings highlight potential barriers to smartphone usage in Chinese American older adults with limited English proficiency. The results have implications for how smartphone technology can be used in clinical practice and aging research.