TDRA Researchers Featured in French-Language Article on the French Adaptation of the TorCA
Several members of the Toronto Dementia Research Alliance (TDRA) were recently featured in a French-language article published by L'Express highlighting the ongoing adaptation and validation of the Toronto Cognitive Assessment (TorCA) for French-speaking communities.
The article features Dr. Morris Freedman, one of the developers of the TorCA, Dr. Carmela Tartaglia, Executive Director of TDRA and one of the developers of the TorCA, Dr. Josée Rivest, Assistant Professor of Psychology at York University's Glendon College and lead of the French adaptation project, and Dr. Mélanie Cohn, neuropsychologist at Toronto Western Hospital and member of the French TorCA team.
Originally developed by TDRA and released in English in 2018, the TorCA is a cognitive assessment designed to bridge the gap between brief cognitive screening tools and comprehensive neuropsychological assessments. The assessment can be completed in approximately one hour and administered by trained healthcare professionals, improving access to cognitive assessment in a variety of clinical settings.
The article explains that the French TorCA is much more than a direct translation. Many of the assessment's language-based tasks require careful cultural and linguistic adaptation to ensure they are equivalent in familiarity and difficulty to the English version. As Dr. Carmela Tartaglia notes, cognitive tests should measure brain function, not a person's familiarity with a particular language or culture.
The French adaptation project began in 2024 and has now entered the norming and validation phase. The research team is recruiting approximately 300 French-speaking adults from across Canada to establish representative normative data before the assessment can be widely implemented. Toronto's diverse Francophone community will play an important role in ensuring the assessment reflects the broader Canadian French-speaking population.
The project is led by Dr. Josée Rivest and is supported by Glendon College and the Toronto Dementia Research Alliance. Dr. Mélanie Cohn is helping conduct the norming and validation studies, while Drs. Morris Freedman and Carmela Tartaglia continue to support the expansion of the TorCA into additional languages to improve equitable access to cognitive assessment.
