Carolien Zeetsen

24 Outline of this thesis The primary aim of this thesis is to investigate cognitive impairments in patients with SUD and whether the MoCA is a reliable and valid cognitive screening instrument to detect these, to overcome the aforementioned challenges that come with an extensive NPA. The secondary aim is to investigate if and how the MoCA can be further implemented in addiction health care. In Chapter 2, the psychometric properties of all three Dutch versions of the MoCA will be investigated in a large sample of healthy participants from a wide age range. In addition, the effect of age, sex and (estimated premorbid) intelligence are examined. Questions that will be answered: ⋅ Are demographic variables age, sex, educational level and estimated premorbid intelligence associated with performance on the MoCA? ⋅ Are the parallel versions of the MoCA equivalent? ⋅ What is the test–retest reliability between versions of the MoCA? In Chapter 3, the validity and applicability of the MoCA will be investigated for use in addiction health care, aiming to provide an optimal cut–off based on an extended NPA. Also, the effect of substance type and abstinence duration on MoCA performance will be examined here. Questions that will be answered: ⋅ Can an optimal cut–off score of the MoCA be determined for use in addiction health care? ⋅ What is the criterion validity (both predictive and concurrent) of the MoCA as compared to an extensive NPA? ⋅ Does substance type and/or abstinence duration affect performance on the MoCA? In Chapter 4, the MoCA will be used to estimate the prevalence of NCD in addiction health care, while taking important patient characteristics into account (i.e. age, years of regular use, polysubstance use, severity of dependence/abuse, depression, anxiety and stress).