Clinical Trial: Cognitive Rehab and Exposure Treatment for Hoarding

Study Status: Recruiting
Recruit Status: Recruiting
Study Type: Interventional

Official Title: Cognitive Rehabilitation and Exposure Therapy for Veterans With Hoarding Disorder

Brief Summary: This project will utilize a novel behavioral intervention for hoarding disorder that takes into account age and neurocognitive factors. The goal of this project is to gain knowledge on how treatment components may or may not work for Veterans with hoarding disorder. Further, the investigators hope to increase understanding of functional and long term outcomes in response to hoarding treatment.

Detailed Summary:

Objective: The investigators propose to conduct a randomized controlled trial comparing six months (26 sessions) of Cognitive Rehabilitation and Exposure/Sorting Therapy (CREST) treatment to a robust comparator, six months of Exposure Therapy alone, in 136 participants with HD.

Research Design: Assessments will be administered at baseline, during treatment (sessions 7, 13, 21), post-treatment, and 3- and 6-month follow-up, thus, all participants will be enrolled for one year.

Methodology: The primary objective is to evaluate whether CREST significantly reduces hoarding symptoms and improves functional capacity and quality of life when compared to exposure therapy alone. The investigators will also examine the impact of treatment mediators; treatment adherence, changes in executive functioning, avoidance, symptom severity on outcomes. Age and executive functioning will also be explored as potential moderators. Finally, by repeatedly measuring treatment targets, the investigators will examine time to maximum treatment effect in an effort to understand mechanisms of change.

Clinical Relationships: By providing a treatment for many Veterans with HD, the investigators can alter the course of their symptom trajectory and negative consequences, resulting in both healthcare costs savings and improved quality of life for Veterans.

Current Primary Outcome: Saving Inventory Revised [ Time Frame: 6 months ]

Original Primary Outcome: Same as current

Current Secondary Outcome:

• UCSD Performance-Based Skills Assessment (UPSA) [ Time Frame: 6 months ]
  The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Performance-Based Skills Assessment (UPSA)76 is an assessment of everyday functioning skills involved in household chores (e.g., writing a shopping list based on a provided recipe), communication (e.g., rescheduling a doctor's appointment), finance (e.g., paying a utility bill), recreation planning (e.g., planning an outing to the beach or zoo), and transportation (e.g., reading comprehension of a bus schedule). The UPSA has demonstrated high inter-rater reliability (0.91) and convergent validity with other performance-based measures. The total UPSA summary score will be used for analyses.
• UCSD SORT Test [ Time Frame: 6 months ]
  The UCSD SORT Test (U-SORT)77 will be used to measure Veteran participants' organizational skills as they relate to functional capacity. During the administration of the U-SORT, participants are instructed to sort 42 household objects (e.g., bent and unbent paper clips, used and unused condiment packets) from a hypothetical "junk drawer" into either "keep" or "trash" piles. Participants are given two minutes to complete the task and one point is awarded for each correctly sorted item, for a total of 42 points. The U-SORT has high internal consistency (? = .86) and adequate convergent validity. The total U-SORT score will be used in analyses.
• Specific Levels of Functioning test (SLOF) [ Time Frame: 6 months ]
  Self-reported functioning (secondary outcome) will be assessed with the Specific Levels of Functioning test (SLOF)78, a 43-item questionnaire regarding areas such as interpersonal relationships, participation in community activities, and work skills. The SLOF has demonstrated excellent reliability and internal consistency.

Original Secondary Outcome:

• UCSD Performance-Based Skills Assessment (UPSA) [ Time Frame: 6 months ]
  he UCSD Performance-Based Skills Assessment (UPSA)76 is an assessment of everyday functioning skills involved in household chores (e.g., writing a shopping list based on a provided recipe), communication (e.g., rescheduling a doctor�s appointment), finance (e.g., paying a utility bill), recreation planning (e.g., planning an outing to the beach or zoo), and transportation (e.g., reading comprehension of a bus schedule). The UPSA has demonstrated high inter-rater reliability (0.91) and convergent validity with other performance-based measures. The total UPSA summary score will be used for analyses.
• UCSD SORT Test [ Time Frame: 6 months ]
  The UCSD SORT Test (U-SORT)77 will be used to measure Veteran participants� organizational skills as they relate to functional capacity. During the administration of the U-SORT, participants are instructed to sort 42 household objects (e.g., bent and unbent paper clips, used and unused condiment packets) from a hypothetical �junk drawer� into either �keep� or �trash� piles. Participants are given two minutes to complete the task and one point is awarded for each correctly sorted item, for a total of 42 points. The U-SORT has high internal consistency (? = .86) and adequate convergent validity. The total U-SORT score will be used in analyses.
• Specific Levels of Functioning test (SLOF) [ Time Frame: 6 months ]
  Self-reported functioning (secondary outcome) will be assessed with the Specific Levels of Functioning test (SLOF)78, a 43-item questionnaire regarding areas such as interpersonal relationships, participation in community activities, and work skills. The SLOF has demonstrated excellent reliability and internal consistency.

Dates:
Date Received: March 25, 2015
Date Started: October 1, 2015
Date Completion: October 2020
Last Updated: March 2, 2017
Last Verified: March 2017