The EMBRACED project, led by a research team from the University of Granada and CIBERSAM, is financed by the Horizon 2020 European programme.
It will be a free tool programmed for use on touch-screen devices and culturally adapted for 8 European countries.
EMBRACED is an ambitious research project whose objective is to develop a culturally adapted computerized tool for the neurocognitive assessment of adults in 8 European countries. It will potentially be able to cover up to 80% of the population of the continent. The tool will be developed in the Unites States as well for both the Hispanic and non-Hispanic population.
The EMBRACED project is led by Inmaculada Ibáñez Casas, a researcher from the CTS-581 group at the University of Granada and the G06 team at the Mental Health Networking Biomedical Research Centre (CIBERSAM), which is part of the Carlos III Institute of Health. The project has arisen due to the need to consider cultural variables when making cognitive assessments of population.
Traditionally, factors such as age, gender, language and ethnicity have been taken into account. However, recent studies have shown that, even controlling for these factors, differences between diverse cultural groups still exist.
Variables like time perception or cultural values like collectivism/individualism and egalitarianism/hierarchical organization can affect scores on neuropsychological tests. This can lead to diagnostic errors that, in some cases, can become serious. “For example, a person could be diagnosed with a disease that they don’t have and have to face the medical and personal consequences that go along with it,” Ibáñez explains.
“EMBRACED,” she continues, “will be the first culturally adapted psychological system designed for use in the European Union. With the increase in migratory movement in the EU, it is becoming necessary to make use of tools that allow for the assessment of patients from different countries in order to avoid the risk of false diagnosis. On the other hand, the ability to bring together samples from different countries will allow us to come to more robust conclusions as to which factors are important when cognitively assessing a population.”
Using a sample of almost 2000 participants, the EMBRACED project will compile a large variety of sociodemographic and cultural data and will assess neuropsychological functions such as attention, executive functions, language, memory, motor function, focus, perception and social cognition.
The collection of these data will allow for increased knowledge in the area of cultural neuroscience. They will help to determine what variables affect cognitive performance as well as in what ways and to what extent. Furthermore, the project will provide a tool for clinical assessment regarding the criteria for neurocognitive disorders defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), which will take relevant cultural variables into account.
EMBRACED will be a tool programmed for use on touch-screen devices like tablets and smartphones and will require minimal intervention by the assessor. It will be distributed for free to any professional who requests it.
The EMBRACED project is financed by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme through the Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions fellowship. It is a collaborative project that includes the participation of CIBERSAM, the Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatment at the University of Granada (with the collaboration of Dr. Miguel Pérez García, also a member of CIBERSAM), the University of North Carolina Wilmington in the United States (represented by Dr. Antonio E. Puente) and the Ann Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic in the United Kingdom (where another of the researchers of the study, Dr. Thomas H. Bak, also works).
About CIBERSAM
The Netorked Biomedical Research Centre (CIBER) is a consortium dependent on the Carlos III Institute of Health (of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness). The mental health section of CIBER, known as CIBERSAM, is made up of 24 clinical, pre-clinical and translational research groups.
It is fundamentally oriented toward the study of mental disorders like depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder as well as anxiety disorders and child/adolescent mental disorders and therapeutic innovation.
Contact:
Inmaculada Ibáñez Casas
Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatment at the University of Granada
E-mail: iibanez@ugr.es
