Assessing current and potential dementia patients through teleconference is a valid and reliable alternative to traditional face-to-face assessment, a study by UT Southwestern Medical Center psychiatrists shows.

Study subjects were given six standard neuropsychological tests measuring attention, memory, language, and processing speed to evaluate dementia. The evaluations were performed face-to-face with a clinician in a standard manner, and compared with evaluations conducted in front of a television screen displaying the clinician and test materials from a remote location.  The results of the two tests closely matched. The teleneuropsychology study, which appeared in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, was the largest of its kind at the time.

Researchers included Dr. C. Munro Cullum, Professor of Psychiatry, and Neurology and Neurotherapeutics; Dr. Linda Hynan, Professor of Clinical Sciences and Psychiatry; and Dr. Myron Weiner, Professor Emeritus in Psychiatry.

Participants were recruited through the National Institutes of Health-funded Alzheimer’s Disease Center at UT Southwestern, and its satellite clinic in Talihina, Okla., which serves the Choctaw Nation. Scientists recommended additional testing of videoconference assessment in different populations to fully explore its value.

Dr. C. Munro Cullum holds the Pam Blumenthal Distinguished Professorship in Clinical Psychology.