Culturally appropriate dementia assessment tools

The following is a list of culturally appropriate dementia tools:

• The Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS) is a short cognitive screening instrument designed to minimise the effects of cultural learning and language diversity on the assessment of baseline cognitive performance. All resources associated with this assessment tool are available under Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS) information page.
• The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA) tool is translated into 36 languages and dialects (Nasreddine, 2006). The MOCA is used for detection of Mild Cognitive Impairment in multiple conditions including: MCI/Alzheimer's disease, Vascular Cognitive Impairment, Parkinson and Fronto-temporal dementia.
• The Alzheimer's Australia website offers a range of dementia assessment scales and tools which are appropriate for CALD older people (Basic et al., 2009).
• The Alzheimer's Australia (2007) “Screening and Diagnostic Tool Guidelines” for screening and diagnostic assessment of non-English speaking people with dementia Includes Guidelines and system recommendations for practitioners, service managers and policy makers