1. Agreement between telehealth and face-to-face assessment of intellectual ability in children with specific learning disorder
- Author
-
Rebecca Sutherland, Kelly Jeng, Natalie Silove, Gillian Bale, Aine Cambridge, Silvia Pfeiffer, Margaret Everett, Marie Antoinette Hodge, Carol Kass, Jeanette Detheridge, Kirsty Molomby, Susannah Mathieson, Philippa Geier, Kay Micallef, Kalaichelvi Ganesalingam, Marcia Williamsz, Paige Batta, Sylvia Pope, Suzi Drevensek, Michael McCabe, Francine Tait, Lynda Edwards, Lynne Young-Dwarte, and Natalie Ong
- Subjects
Male ,020205 medical informatics ,Pilot Projects ,Health Informatics ,02 engineering and technology ,Telehealth ,03 medical and health sciences ,Face-to-face ,Cognition ,0302 clinical medicine ,Specific Learning Disorder ,0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering ,Humans ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Child ,Intelligence Tests ,Internet ,Medical education ,Remote Consultation ,Intellectual ability ,Telemedicine ,Female ,New South Wales ,Tele education ,Psychology - Abstract
Introduction Access to cognitive assessments for children living remotely is limited. Telehealth represents a potential cost- and time-effective solution. A pilot study was conducted to determine the feasibility of telehealth to assess cognitive function in children with learning difficulties. Methods Thirty-three children (median age = 9 years 11 months), recruited from the New South Wales (NSW) Centre for Effective Reading, underwent assessment of intellectual ability. Comparisons were made between the intellectual ability index scores obtained by a psychologist sitting face-to-face with the children and another psychologist via telehealth using a web-based platform, Coviu. Results The telehealth administration method yielded comparable results to the face-to-face method. Correlation analyses showed high associations between the testing methodologies on the intellectual ability indices (correlation coefficient range = 0.981–0.997). Discussion Findings indicate that telehealth may be an alternative to face-to-face cognitive assessment. Future work in a broader range of cognitive tests and wider range of clinical populations is warranted.
- Published
- 2018