Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in Occupational Therapy Practice: An Integrative Review

Abstract

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is a test created to detect mild cognitive impairment (CCL), assessing some cognitive skills such as attention, executive functions, memory, language, visual-constructive skills and orientation, which are essential for the performance of life activities. daily (AVD). The objective was to evaluate the literature on the use of MoCA by health professionals and to correlate the studies with the practice of Occupational Therapy. This is an integrative review, with a qualitative approach, through the steps recommended by Mendes et al. (2008): (1) construction of the research question, (2) determination of inclusion and exclusion criteria for studies, (3) categorization and evaluation of included studies, (4) interpretation of results and presentation of the synthesis of knowledge. The search in the literature was performed using the descriptors defined and associated with the Boolean operator "or", through the following electronic databases: MEDLINE/PUBMED, IBECS and SciELO, in October 2021. 12 articles were selected according to the inclusion criteria . It was observed that only one article addressed the Use of MoCa in the practice of Occupational Therapy (OT) (n=1; 8.3%). Regarding the use of the test, five studies used it to assess the effects of an intervention (n=5; 41.6%) and most of these articles (n: 11; 91.6%) showed good results when using the MoCA within of its objectives, demonstrating its effectiveness. The test showed good effectiveness in examining cognitive skills, emphasizing its use to assess the effects of interventions and thereby quantitatively demonstrate the evolution of the patient's clinical condition, showing effectiveness in the practice of health professionals, including Occupational Therapy.