Translations and cultural adaptations of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment: a systematic and qualitative review

Abstract

This study provides a systematic review of linguistically and culturally adapted versions of the original Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) full version. Adapted versions were identified through a systematic review in 3 databases and on the MoCA website. Overall, 86 culturally different versions of MoCA are available: 74 versions on the MoCA website (25 of them have a corresponding paper concerning the translation process found with the systematic review) and 12 additional versions identified only with the search in biomedical databases. Culturally different adapted versions of the MoCA were unevenly distributed across different geographic areas. The quality of the process of cultural adaptation of MoCA differs considerably among different available versions as well as the number of items adapted in the various language versions. The potential availability of many culturally adapted and translated versions of the MoCA increases the chance of offering a linguistically and culturally sensitive screening for cognitive impairment to diverse populations; further studies are needed to identify if MoCA can be considered a truly cross-cultural fair test.

Keywords: Cognitive impairment; Cross-cultural; Cultural adaptation; Montreal Cognitive Assessment; Translation.