To achieve the project’s goals, the following work was performed:
Objective 1. To develop the EMBRACED battery. The neurocognitive battery was designed and programmed. It is fully operational both in English and in Spanish, and its adaptation to other European countries and languages is ongoing. The EMBRACED battery includes a comprehensive sociodemographic and cultural questionnaire and a total of 16 psychological tasks. A comprehensive literature review was performed to develop them all. All questions in the form and all the psychological tasks were programmed for iOS and to be administered in an iPad. A full beta version was tested in a pilot study and these data were used for the battery tune-up that.
Objective 2.- To obtain EMBRACED standardization data in different European countries and groups. Networking activities were initiated since the start of the project. As part of these activities, the research team participated in diverse conferences and meetings with international attendees and spoke about the EMBRACED project, its impact, and the opportunities for collaboration. The project has now teams actively working in Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany, and Italy. Other groups worldwide have joined the project including Palestine, Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala, Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, and Turkey. All partners have been trained in all aspects of the battery translation and administration, as well as in other scientific processes such as ethical procedures, recruitment, data collection, and data management. Data collection for the standardization in target European countries, and for the battery validation in patients has been initiated. The global database for the project, including all sociodemographic, cultural and psychological variables, was created and tested, and after cleaning and preparing it, preliminary analyses were performed and reported.
OVERVIEW OF RESULTS
The EMBRACED battery has shown to be:
1) Reliable and easy to administer: the software application works consistently and all data collected from participants is accurately and easily stored. The administration is easy for both the researchers and the participants. Its administration requires no specific training for the clinicians. It also proved to be comfortable for participants, and thus, for future patients. This proves that objective 1 has been attained.
2) Sensitive to cultural differences. Preliminary results showed that different cultural groups (Hispanics, non-Hispanics, and Spaniards so far analyzed) performed differently in many of the tasks included in the EMBRACED battery. This shows that objective 2 of the project has been attained.
EXPLOITATION AND DISSEMINATION
Dissemination activities planned include scientific publications in open access journals as well as more generalist communications aimed at the public in general. Also, the maintenance of the dedicated website and social media accounts will provide information about the project worldwide. The PI, as well as the rest of the core team, will continue to participate in conferences and exhibitions. The EMBRACED battery has been registered on the Safe Creative Copyright Registry to prevent unauthorized changes to the software.
