TY  - JOUR
AU  - Dodich, Alessandra
AU  - Panzavolta, Andrea
AU  - Funghi, Giulia
AU  - Meli, Claudia
AU  - Festari, Cristina
AU  - Chatzikostopoulos, Thanos
AU  - Chicherio, Christian
AU  - Clarens, Florencia
AU  - de Oliveira, Fabricio Ferreira
AU  - Filardi, Marco
AU  - Ibanez, Agustin
AU  - Invernizzi, Laura
AU  - Lebouvier, Thibaud
AU  - Logroscino, Giancarlo
AU  - MacPherson, Sarah E
AU  - Manca, Riccardo
AU  - Marra, Camillo
AU  - Matias-Guiu, Jordi A
AU  - Montembeault, Maxime
AU  - Papagno, Costanza
AU  - Pomati, Simone
AU  - Possenti, Mario
AU  - Piguet, Olivier
AU  - Sacco, Leonardo
AU  - Schild, Ann-Katrin
AU  - Sollberger, Marc
AU  - Tábuas-Pereira, Miguel
AU  - Tsatali, Marianna
AU  - Tsolaki, Magda
AU  - van den Berg, Esther
AU  - Cappa, Stefano F
AU  - Bertoux, Maxime
AU  - Kumfor, Fiona
AU  - Van den Stock, Jan
AU  - Boccardi, Marina
AU  - Welsh-Bohmer, Kathleen Anne
AU  - Cerami, Chiara
TI  - International consensus for the assessment of social cognition in neurocognitive disorders: framework definition and clinical recommendations of the SIGNATURE initiative.
JO  - Alzheimer's research & therapy
VL  - 18
IS  - 1
SN  - 1758-9193
CY  - London
PB  - BioMed Central
M1  - DZNE-2026-00059
SP  - 6
PY  - 2026
AB  - Socio-cognitive assessment in neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) is rare in clinical practice and no consensus exists as to a uniform operationalization of socio-cognitive measures for NCDs in memory clinics. The SIGNATURE initiative aims to optimize the use of socio-cognitive measures in memory clinics, defining expert recommendations. We report consortium guidelines for the use of socio-cognitive measures in NCDs based on available evidence from the literature and the current state of practices in memory clinics.Using a Delphi consensus method supported by a literature review and the results of an international survey, 22 specialists defined recommendations for the context of use, relevance in NCD diagnosis, priorities for future research and facilitators/obstacles of socio-cognitive assessment in major and mild NCDs.Overall, panelists recommended social cognition testing in routine diagnostic assessment to evaluate both socio-cognitive and socio-behavioral alterations. A set of clinical, methodological, implementation and external factors facilitating or hampering the use of socio-cognitive tasks was identified.This is the first focused endeavor to favor the implementation of socio-cognitive assessment, which is required by DSM-5 but seldom performed despite clear evidence of its clinical relevance for diagnosis and care. Our results provide an initial set of recommendations, refinable through the future actions of the SIGNATURE initiative. Future collaborative clinical research projects should overcome current limitations and foster the use of ecological and cross-culturally validated measures in clinics.
KW  - Humans
KW  - Consensus
KW  - Social Cognition
KW  - Neurocognitive Disorders: diagnosis
KW  - Neurocognitive Disorders: psychology
KW  - Neuropsychological Tests: standards
KW  - Delphi Technique
KW  - Cognitive Assessment (Other)
KW  - Neurocognitive disorders (Other)
KW  - Recommendations (Other)
KW  - Social cognition (Other)
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:41350737
C2  - pmc:PMC12784552
DO  - DOI:10.1186/s13195-025-01908-2
UR  - https://pub.dzne.de/record/283180
ER  -