Abstract
The fast-evolving field of remote tele-assessment does not yet have official guidelines on ethical practice, but ethics codes and advisories offer salient points and recommended procedures. The American Psychological Association’s (APA, 2017a) ethics code offers principles and standards that can guide researchers in neuropsychological assessment, but multiple challenges reduce the reliability and validity of the assessments undertaken in this modality. The article will focus on these challenges, which span the spectrum of the phases in practice, from informed consent to interpreting data for reports. Among other limitations compared to face-to-face assessments, tele-assessment might have technical, security, and privacy difficulties, issues in clarity in receiving auditory, visual, and nonverbal communication, and testing difficulties, for example, performance validity assessment. Therefore, the results of tests using neuropsychological tele-assessment forensically might lack the required reliability and validity, which acts to limit the conclusions that can be drawn from the data gathered and the generalizability. That said, the limited research is growing, and does demonstrate some equivalence in neuropsychological tele-assessment and in-person assessment. The article is based on an extensive literature search, and it includes a sample informed consent form that indicates the limitations of tele-assessment. The article considers forensic and clinical applications, as well.