<p>I am looking for a Psychology term (not a test procedure, just a term) that describes cognitive testing not based on a questionnaire, or a standard operating procedure. </p>

<p>Here is the situation - in our clinic people get to see a Psychologist who looks into people's background before they are being enrolled in surgery and the subsequent intensive rehab program. Basically, these professionals 'informally' assess whether potential surgery/rehab candidates have a sufficient social network to support their rehab, and whether they appear mentally fit to take this challenge. </p>

<p>Now I am revising this paper and the editor asks for a clarification on the cognitive screening method. Well, we didn't use a standardized test at all (no IQ test, questionnaire etc), except when the Psychologist had doubts after the informal intake. In that case, patients are referred to a geriatrician or a more specialized psychologist to do 'proper' (I guess standardized) cognitive screening.</p>

<p>Is there a name for 'informal cognitive screening', perhaps as part of an 'intake' procedure?    </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-11T15:26:48.963Z
If you don't get a specific answer, I'm guessing if you describe it as an informal screening as you have here would convey the message
Bryan Krause
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-11T19:02:08.577Z
@BryanKrause - thanks for that. Issue is that I'm not a native English speaker, which makes it difficult to come up even with a non-technical descriptive term.
AliceD
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-12T20:00:17.553Z
Would "psychological triage", "informal psychological assessment", "preliminary psychologial assessment" or " pre-surgical informal psychological assessment" work for you? Since it's informal, as you describe it, probably there's no broadly used term for that. Maybe you should just describe exactly how it goes, how long, what docs...
Quora Feans
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-27T00:15:26.240Z
"*cognitive* screening" is probably the wrong phrase to use here. From your description of what's going on, you are (or rather the psy is) screening their social (support) network. OTOH, the 2nd part "whether they appear mentally fit to take this challenge" might involve something like that. Without more details what that involves, I can't offer a choice word to use. I guess the reviewer is asking for details on that process. (E.g. are you evaluating whether they can give informed consent?)
got trolled too much this week
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-27T00:27:36.490Z
Note that there exist more formal methods to evaluate the latter https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5627738/ ; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5351885/
got trolled too much this week
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-27T00:37:52.700Z
There are also some more formal way to asses (someone's) social networks, but I haven't heard of them being used in such (study screening) contexts [although they have been for contacts tracing--where forgetting is a problem], so your reviewer probably isn't going to be too inquisitive about details on how you assessed subjects' social networks.
got trolled too much this week
<cognitive-psychology><terminology>
Is there a commonly used term for 'informal' cognitive screening?
AliceD
# Is there a commonly used term for 'informal' cognitive screening?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-04-11)

I am looking for a Psychology term (not a test procedure, just a term) that describes cognitive testing not based on a questionnaire, or a standard operating procedure.

Here is the situation - in our clinic people get to see a Psychologist who looks into people's background before they are being enrolled in surgery and the subsequent intensive rehab program. Basically, these professionals 'informally' assess whether potential surgery/rehab candidates have a sufficient social network to support their rehab, and whether they appear mentally fit to take this challenge.

Now I am revising this paper and the editor asks for a clarification on the cognitive screening method. Well, we didn't use a standardized test at all (no IQ test, questionnaire etc), except when the Psychologist had doubts after the informal intake. In that case, patients are referred to a geriatrician or a more specialized psychologist to do 'proper' (I guess standardized) cognitive screening.

Is there a name for 'informal cognitive screening', perhaps as part of an 'intake' procedure?

**Tags:** cognitive-psychology, terminology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: If you don't get a specific answer, I'm guessing if you describe it as an informal screening as you have here would convey the message  
> **username_0**: @BryanKrause - thanks for that. Issue is that I'm not a native English speaker, which makes it difficult to come up even with a non-technical descriptive term.  
> **username_2**: Would "psychological triage", "informal psychological assessment", "preliminary psychologial assessment" or " pre-surgical informal psychological assessment" work for you? Since it's informal, as you describe it, probably there's no broadly used term for that. Maybe you should just describe exactly how it goes, how long, what docs...  
> **username_3**: "*cognitive* screening" is probably the wrong phrase to use here. From your description of what's going on, you are (or rather the psy is) screening their social (support) network. OTOH, the 2nd part "whether they appear mentally fit to take this challenge" might involve something like that. Without more details what that involves, I can't offer a choice word to use. I guess the reviewer is asking for details on that process. (E.g. are you evaluating whether they can give informed consent?)  
> **username_3**: Note that there exist more formal methods to evaluate the latter https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5627738/ ; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5351885/  
> **username_3**: There are also some more formal way to asses (someone's) social networks, but I haven't heard of them being used in such (study screening) contexts [although they have been for contacts tracing--where forgetting is a problem], so your reviewer probably isn't going to be too inquisitive about details on how you assessed subjects' social networks.  

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## 0 answers

