Clinical Trial: Measuring the Impact of Cognitive and Psychosocial Interventions in Persons With Mild Cognitive Impairment

Study Status: Completed
Recruit Status: Completed
Study Type: Interventional

Official Title: Measuring the Impact of Cognitive and Psychosocial Interventions in Persons With Mild Cognitive Impairment

Brief Summary:

Memory interventions are training programs that provide a variety of cognitive and psychological strategies meant to improve memory. These interventions have been shown to yield significant benefits to normal aged persons and small-size studies have shown that they are suitable and beneficial for persons with mild cognitive impairment. The goal of this proposal is to assess with a well-controlled design the efficiency and specificity of cognitive training in persons with mild cognitive impairment.

The hypothesis is that cognitive training can improve the cognition of persons with mild cognitive impairment and that this improvement can be enduring.


Detailed Summary:

Elderly persons with mild cognitive impairment experience a cognitive decline that is confirmed by a neuropsychological examination but do not meet the clinical criteria for dementia. However, longitudinal studies have shown that up to 75% of these persons develop dementia of the Alzheimer type after 5 years of follow-up. A significant proportion of these persons are thus in a prodromal phase of the disease. This phase is likely to represent a key moment in which to apply appropriate interventions. Indeed, these persons have the cognitive capabilities to benefit from such interventions. Cognitive training has been shown to be effective in improving the memory function of older persons without cognitive decline and increasing evidence indicates that persons with MCI might also benefit from such interventions. However, there is few researches have focused on the Mild Cognitive Impairment population in spite of the fact that they are at-risk of experiencing significant cognitive problems in the next few years while still having the potential to benefit from non-pharmacological interventions. In a number of pilot studies, the investigators compared cognitive and psychosocial intervention to a control intervention in persons with MCI. The participants' performance improved on proximal outcomes and on distal outcomes (activities of daily living). The purpose of this project is to study the efficacy of the cognitive intervention in a larger group of participants, compare it with a non-cognitive intervention, assess the long term maintenance of the improvement and measure the potential implication of cognitive and psychosocial factors.

Persons with Mild Cognitive Impairment will first receive a comprehensive clinical assessment to determine whether they meet the research criteria for Mild Cognitive Impairment. They will then be randomly allocated to one of three groups. One group
Sponsor: Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Geriatrie de Montreal

Current Primary Outcome: Change in memory measures [ Time Frame: one week before and after intervention, and three and six months later ]

Unrelated word list learning and Face-name memory tests


Original Primary Outcome: Same as current

Current Secondary Outcome:

  • generalization of therapeutic gains to everyday life [ Time Frame: one week before and after intervention, and three and six months later ]
    Self-Evaluation Complaints Questionnaire, Activities of Daily Living- Prevention Instrument questionnaire, Multifactorial Memory Questionnaire tests and participants will be asked to press a button to record each occasion when they use a strategy in their daily lives.
  • Change in psychological health measures [ Time Frame: one week before and after intervention, and 3 and 6 months later ]
    geriatric anxiety inventory, griatric depression scale and general well-being schedule tests


Original Secondary Outcome: Same as current

Information By: Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Geriatrie de Montreal

Dates:
Date Received: September 28, 2011
Date Started: November 2011
Date Completion:
Last Updated: January 26, 2016
Last Verified: January 2016