Remote cognitive assessment in severe mental illness: a scoping review

Abstract

Many individuals living with severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia, present cognitive deficits and reasoning biases negatively impacting clinical and functional trajectories. Remote cognitive assessment presents many opportunities for advancing research and treatment but has yet to be widely used in psychiatric populations. We conducted a scoping review of remote cognitive assessment in severe mental illness to provide an overview of available measures and guide best practices. Overall, 34 studies (n = 20,813 clinical participants) were reviewed and remote measures, psychometrics, facilitators, barriers, and future directions were synthesized using a logic model. We identified 82 measures assessing cognition in severe mental illness across 11 cognitive domains and four device platforms. Remote measures were generally comparable to traditional versions, though psychometric properties were infrequently reported. Facilitators included standardized procedures and wider recruitment, whereas barriers included imprecise measure adaptations, technology inaccessibility, low patient engagement, and poor digital literacy. Our review identified several remote cognitive measures in psychiatry across all cognitive domains. However, there is a need for more rigorous validation of these measures and consideration of potentially influential factors, such as sex and gender. We provide recommendations for conducting remote cognitive assessment in psychiatry and fostering high-quality research using digital technologies.

Effective Modalities of Virtual Care to Deliver Mental Health and Addictions Services in Canada

“…More recently, studies looking at video neuropsychological assessments found that despite an overall good agreement with the in-person rating of the assessments, there is limited validation and standards for conducting these assessments virtually. [32][33][34] For patients diagnosed with severe mental illness (e.g., eating disorders, psychosis), a systematic review led by Lawes-Wickwar et al in 2018 found that of the 31 articles identified (29 comparative trials), there is inconclusive evidence on the efficacy of virtual mental health care for cognitive rehabilitation, patient education and assessment. 30,35 This is similar to a rapid review conducted on use of virtual modalities of care for treatment of schizophrenia.…”

Probing the Association between Cognition, Suicidal Behavior and Tryptophan Metabolism in a Sample of Individuals Living with Bipolar Disorder: A Secondary Analysis

“…Risk profiling of patients based on their clinical history is typically applied in clinical practice by identifying elements such as previous history of suicide attempts, violent attempts, a high genetic loading, and early childhood traumas such as sexual abuse. The evaluation of cognition could support the assessment of the individual suicide risk profile [ 38 , 41 ], and in a dimensional and transdiagnostic framework, exploring the association between TRP metabolism and cognition could be beneficial both in informing new diagnostic-treatment protocols and in improving our understanding of the underlying mechanisms.…”

Associations between executive functions assessed in different contexts in a genetically informative sample.

“…Assessing EFs remotely with online tasks continues to grow in popularity, as technological advances can increase speed, efficiency, and sample sizes in data collection (Ahmed et al, 2022; Miller & Barr, 2017). For example, EF tasks are frequently used as part of neuropsychological testing in clinical settings, and some researchers have emphasized the promise of remote EF and cognitive assessments (Bilder & Reise, 2019; Lavigne et al, 2022; Miller & Barr, 2017). Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the importance of remote psychological assessments and tasks.…”