Functional Impact of a Memory Intervention Program

January 12, 2016 updated by: Susan Vandermorris, Ph.D., C.Psych., Baycrest

Normal aging is associated with decline in some aspects of memory, and this can be a risk factor for reductions in everyday functioning. The Baycrest Memory and Aging Program teaches positive adaptation to age-related memory changes, including strategies for minimizing the everyday impact of normal memory change and positive lifestyle change to maximize brain health. Prior research has shown that the Memory and Aging program is effective in increasing participants' knowledge about memory, use of memory strategies, and confidence in memory function, as well as adoption of healthier lifestyle practices and reduction in intention to use unneeded health care resources.

Although not one of the stated goals of the program, informal feedback from participants suggests that the educational content and skills training in the Memory and Aging Program has led some participants to change behaviours in ways that lead to significant improvements in their everyday functioning. For example, graduating participants often volunteer examples of how they have applied what they have learned to succeed in everyday memory tasks such as learning a new name or keeping track of future plans. Based on this participant feedback, it is hypothesized that the knowledge, skills, and confidence gained by Memory and Aging Program participants may lead to positive behaviour changes that, in turn, lead to improved everyday functioning. The present study will test this hypothesis using a randomized controlled pretest-posttest design.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

69

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Canada
    • Ontario
      • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M6A 2E1
        • Baycrest

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

50 years to 90 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 50-90
  • Available to participate in all testing and intervention sessions (located in Toronto, Canada)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • health conditions with major effects on cognition, including a current or previous history of stroke, brain surgery, or diagnosed neurological disorder
  • dependence in instrumental activities of daily living
  • cognitive impairment, defined as performance below cutoff for cognitive impairment on a standardized cognitive test, the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (Brandt, Spencer, & Folstein, 1988).
  • affective impairment, defined as performance below cutoff for depression on standardized depression screen, the Geriatric Depression Scale (Yesavage et al., 1983)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Memory and Aging Program
The Memory and Aging Program intervention consists of five 2-hour sessions conducted over five consecutive weeks. The content of the program includes: (a) the provision of factual information (i.e., about memory, age-related memory changes, lifestyle factors affecting memory, and memory strategies) in an informal lecture format; and (b) memory intervention (i.e., practice and application of several evidence-based memory strategies) in a hands-on interactive format.
Behavioral: Memory and Aging Program
No Intervention: Wait-list Control
Participants randomized to the wait-list control group will receive no intervention following randomization. They will be offered the intervention immediately following completion of the week 14 outcome testing session.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Change from baseline in healthy lifestyle behaviours as measured by Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (Walker, Sechrist, & Pender, 1987)
Time Frame: Baseline, Week 8, week 14
Baseline, Week 8, week 14
Change from baseline in memory strategy use as measured by the Memory Strategy Toolbox (modified from Troyer, 2001)
Time Frame: Baseline, Week 8, week 14
Baseline, Week 8, week 14
Attainment of individualized goals for (a) lifestyle change, (b) memory strategy use, and (c) functional outcomes of memory strategy use as measured by Goal Attainment Scaling (Gordon, Powell, & Rockwood, 2000; Kiresuk, Smith, & Cardillo, 1994)
Time Frame: Baseline, Week 8, week 14
Baseline, Week 8, week 14

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Change in positive and negative affect as measured by Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988)
Time Frame: Baseline, Week 8, week 14
Baseline, Week 8, week 14
Change in general health status as measured by the RAND 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (Ware & Sherbourne, 1992).
Time Frame: Baseline, Week 8, week 14
Baseline, Week 8, week 14
General Self-Efficacy Scale (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995)
Time Frame: Baseline, Week 8, week 14
Baseline, Week 8, week 14
Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (Smith, Della Sala, Logie, & Maylor, 2000)
Time Frame: Baseline, Week 8, week 14
Baseline, Week 8, week 14
Self-report health status, lifestyle changes, attitudes about aging
Time Frame: Baseline, Week 8, week 14
Baseline, Week 8, week 14

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Change in memory knowledge as measured by Memory knowledge quiz (modified from Troyer, 2001).
Time Frame: Baseline, Week 8, week 14
Baseline, Week 8, week 14
Change in self-perceived memory as measured by Multifactorial Metamemory Questionnaire (Troyer & Rich, 2002)
Time Frame: Baseline, 8 weeks, 14 weeks
Baseline, 8 weeks, 14 weeks
Change in prospective memory function (Prospective telephone-call task, Troyer, 2001; actual week, Rendell & Craik, 2001)
Time Frame: Baseline, 8 weeks, 14 weeks
Baseline, 8 weeks, 14 weeks
Change in name learning (Name-learning task, based on Troyer, Häfliger, Cadieux, & Craik, 2006)
Time Frame: Baseline, 8 weeks, 14 weeks
Baseline, 8 weeks, 14 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Baycrest

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Susan Vandermorris, PhD, Baycrest

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

May 1, 2014

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 12, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 12, 2014

First Posted (Estimate)

March 14, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

January 13, 2016

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 12, 2016

Last Verified

January 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 14-21

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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