Maintaining Independence in Everyday Life Among Seniors With Subjective Cognitive Complaints

Baycrest

Status: Completed

Conditions: Aging

Treatments: Behavioral: Psychosocial education; Behavioral: Cognitive training

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02655497

REB#15-29

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of cognitive strategies in improving participation in daily activities within older adults who report subjective cognitive decline.

Full description

The planned project explores the effects of several interventions designed to promote independence in everyday life, with older adults who identify cognitive complaints. Evidence suggests that 25-50% of community dwelling older adults report cognitive difficulties, such as reduced memory or concentration, in the absence of any diagnosed condition. Cognitive skills are crucial to living independently. The investigators plan to examine two approaches in a randomized controlled trial. Based on our successful pilot study, the investigators hypothesize that this training which combines education on healthy lifestyles and problem solving training to address everyday life difficulties, will be effective in maximizing and maintaining independence of older adults.

Enrollment: 16 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 60+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Community-dwelling older adults aged 60+
• Fluent in written and spoken English
• Have subjective cognitive complaints (SCC)
• Performance within normal limits on a neuropsychological assessment battery
• Participants must also be able to self-identify specific areas of difficulty in their everyday life that they would like to improve

Exclusion criteria

• Significant neurological or psychiatric history (e.g., multiple sclerosis, psychiatric illness requiring hospitalization)
• Concurrent depression
• Anaesthesia in previous 6 months; and substance abuse

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

---

16 participants in 2 patient groups

Cognitive Training

Experimental group

Description:

Cognitive training intervention. The intervention includes seven 2-hour group sessions interspersed with four individual 45-minute sessions for a total of 17 hours of intervention over an 8-week period. The experimental group will receive real-world strategy training, a cognitive strategy based approach that trains people to improve their level of independence on meaningful activities of daily life with which they are having difficulty.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Cognitive training

Psychosocial education

Active Comparator group

Description:

The intervention includes seven 2-hour group sessions interspersed with four individual 45-minute sessions for a total of 17 hours of intervention over an 8-week period. The control group will receive brain-health education.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Psychosocial education