FEASIBILITY OF USING TELEMEDICINE FOR LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT

Abstract

Background: The international literature has shown viability in the use of telemedicine for language assessment in individuals with dementia. However, no studies were found on language testing via the Internet in Brazil. Objectives: To verify the feasibility of using telemedicine for language assessment, by comparing the performance of healthy adults in face-to-face and online assessments, and to verify the influence of age and education in the evaluation types. Methods: The sample consisted of 15 cognitively healthy subjects, aged between 57-70 years (M=63.2; SD=4.6) and education between 8-22 years (M=14.7; SD=4.3). The Western Aphasia Battery-Revised (WAB-R) was used for language assessment, with subtests for spontaneous speech, auditory verbal comprehension, repetition, naming, reading, and writing. Subjects were randomly evaluated in person and online. Results: No differences were found in WAB-R scores obtained in a face-to-face versus online environment. There was a negative correlation between the Aphasia Coefficient score and age (rs=-0.814; p=0.013) and a positive correlation for education (rs=0.736; p=0.037) in the online assessment. Conclusions: The use of telemedicine for language assessment proved to be feasible for cognitively healthy adults, despite the influence of age and education. Future research is needed to analyze the feasibility of this mode of evaluation in subjects with cognitive impairments.