Musical Dual Task Training to Improve Attention Control for Dementia

The Effects of Musical Dual Task Training on Attention Control and Associated Gait Stability of Patients With Mild to Moderate Dementia

The purpose of this project is to determine if the Musical Dual Task Training program improves attention control that influences measures of gait performances under dual tasking, balance, fear of falling, and behavioral disturbance in patients with mild to moderate dementia. This Musical Dual Task Training protocol is structured with musical content and patients are required to do musical tasks including singing and playing instruments contingent on visual or auditory cues while walking. This paradigm is designed to include music making because it involves great demands on attention and memory that might elicit experience-dependent plasticity in the brain. Musical Dual Task Training is proposed to strengthen brain networking for attention control that consequently may improve the gait performances in patients with dementia, as indicated by reducing dual task cost on gait.

Study Overview

• Status: Unknown
• Conditions: Dementia
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Musical Dual Task Training; Behavioral: Walking and Talking

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 30
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Taiwan
  • Taoyuan, Taiwan, 333
    • Recruiting
    • Chang Gung Medical Foundation
    • Contact: Yu-Cheng Pei, MD, PhD; Phone Number: 3846 886-3-3281200; Email: yspeii@gmail.com
    • Principal Investigator: Yu-Cheng Pei, MD, PhD

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 55 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• a mild to moderate dementia diagnosis with Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) score: .5, 1, or 2
• ability to walk 10 meters independently without the use of a walker or cane, or the assistance by another person

Exclusion Criteria:

• other known neurologic disorders such as stroke or Parkinson's disease
• significant orthopedic, visual, and hearing impairment that hinders ambulation

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Musical Dual Task Training; 60 minute individual session once a week across 2 months for a total of 8 sessions.Each session will be led by a qualified music therapist. Within the Musical Dual Task Training session, participant will be asked to sing familiar songs, play simple percussive musical instruments such as paddle drums and shakers, sing while walking, and play instruments while walking.	Behavioral: Musical Dual Task Training
Active Comparator: Walking and Talking; 60 minute individual session once a week across 2 months for a total of 8 sessions.Each session will be led by a qualified music therapist. Within the walking and talking session, participant will be asked to read a newspaper article prior to a walk and have a conversation with the music therapist based on the content of the news while walking.	Behavioral: Walking and Talking

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from Baseline on the Trail Making Test at 2 months	Trail Making Test Part A requires the participants to draw lines to connect a set of 25 circles as fast as possible following the sequential order of numbers (1,2,3…25) while still maintaining accuracy. Trail Making Test Part B is in a same format, but participants are required to alternates between numbers and letters (1, A, 2, B, etc.). The circles in Part B include both numbers (1 - 13) and letters (A - L). Results for both Part A and Part B are reported as the number of seconds required to complete the task. Higher scores indicate greater impairment.	Baseline and at 2 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Change from Baseline on Walking Speed during Dual tasking at 2 Months	Baseline and at 2 months
Change from Baseline on the Timed Up-and-Go test at 2 Months	Baseline and 2 months
Change from Baseline on the 7-item Short Falls Efficacy Scale International at 2 Months	Baseline and at 2 months
Change from Baseline on the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory scale at 2 months	Baseline and at 2 months
Change from Baseline on Stride Lengths during Dual Tasking at 2 Months	Baseline and at 2 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Chang Gung Memorial Hospital
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Yu-Cheng Pei, MD, PhD, Chang Gung Medical Foundation

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: October 1, 2012
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): October 1, 2013
• Study Completion (Anticipated): October 1, 2013

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 1, 2012
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 16, 2012
• First Posted (Estimate): October 18, 2012

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): November 8, 2012
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 6, 2012
• Last Verified: October 1, 2012

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: dementia; attention control; gait stability; Musical Dual Task Training; dual task cost
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Neurocognitive Disorders; Dementia
• Other Study ID Numbers: 101-2201B; 20216 (University of Kansas)