Validating a Malay version of loewensteinoccupational therapy cognitive assessment for geriatrics (M-LOTCA-G)

The purpose of this study was to translate the LOTCA-G into a Malay language (M­LOTCA-G) for assessing cognitive deficit among institutional elderly who undergo occupational therapy. LOTCA-G battery is being used by Occupational Therapist in Malaysia to identify the underlying cognitive deficits among elderly. The study was based on a single group test-retest design where 52 selected subjects (among elderly) have been tested for reliability and validity. The new version of LOTCA-G called M-LOTCA-G was compared with the original version and another cognitive screening instrument Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) to examine its consistencies and abnormality interpretation. This study concluded that M-LOTCA-G is reliable as the Cronbach Alpha value is more than 0.9 and the overall reliability of the subtests are very good for 23 sub-tests that have been tested. This study also indicated that LOTCA-G and M-LOTCA-G are consistent in the subject performance. Subject’s performances have been compared between M-LOTCA-G and MMSE which showed no relationship in its diagnostic interpretations. The findings pointed out that M-LOTCA-G should be used in identifying the deficits in cognitive components in relation to occupational performance for Malaysian elderly population. This study found that M-LOTCA-G may not replace the function of MMSE as tool for screening of cognitive deficits among the elderly population in Malaysia.