A Multidomain Approach to Preventing Dementia in African Americans: Cognitive Prescriptions

The University of Alabama at Birmingham

Status: Completed

Conditions: Cognitive Change; Health Behavior; Health Literacy

Treatments: Behavioral: Cognitive Prescriptions

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03864536

Cognitive Prescriptions

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this R21 study is to explore the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of individualized cognitive prescriptions (CogRxs) in improving engagement in healthy behaviors and other outcomes in middle-aged AAs and to gain feedback on future implementation of the program.

Full description

A pre-post experimental design will be used, in which 150 AA participants aged 50-65 will complete a baseline assessment of cognitive testing and data-driven assessment of deficiencies across five CogRx domains (physical activity, cognitive activity, diet, sleep, social activity). Participants will be randomized to either: psychoeducation + CogRx, psychoeducation only, or no contact control. The psychoeducation and CogRx groups will receive general psychoeducation on dementia prevalence, prognosis, and risk factors, while the CogRx group will also receive personalized information on their risk factor profile and develop a tailored 3-month intervention plan, which will consist of simple evidence-based strategies to implement at home. Motivational reminders as well as adherence and self-efficacy questions will be administered via text-messaging over the 3-months. Participants will return for 3-month and 6-month follow-ups. Specific Aim 1 (proximal outcomes) is to determine whether the CogRx condition is superior to psychoeducation alone in improving engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviors. Specific Aim 2 (distal outcomes) is to compare the three conditions on a brief battery of cognitive and psychological measures. The Exploratory Aim is to gather feedback for future implementation of this program, including cultural considerations, barriers and facilitators to engagement, and likelihood of continuing the program.

Enrollment: 39 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 50 to 65 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusions:

• Must be African American
• Must be age 50 to 65
• Must have a working cell phone with unlimited texting
• Must be ambulatory

Exclusions:

• No neurological (including dementia diagnosis) or severe psychiatric (e.g., schizophrenia or bipolar disorder) disorders
• No insomnia
• Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS) score ≤20

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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39 participants in 3 patient groups

No-contact control

No Intervention group

Description:

No-contact control

Psychoeducation control

Active Comparator group

Description:

Receives general psychoeducation on dementia prevalence, prognosis, and risk factors,

Treatment:

Behavioral: Cognitive Prescriptions

Psychoeducation + CogRx

Experimental group

Description:

Receives same general psychoeducation on dementia and will also receive personalized information on their risk factor profile and develop a tailored 3-month intervention plan, which will consist of simple evidence-based strategies to implement at home.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Cognitive Prescriptions