Instant Message-delivered Personalised Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (IMPACT) for Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Persons With Mild Cognitive Impairment (IMPACT)

May 13, 2026 updated by: Prof. Yu, Doris Sau Fung, The University of Hong Kong

Instant Message-delivered Personalised Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (IMPACT) for Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Persons With Mild Cognitive Impairment: a Mixed Methods Study

This study aims to develop an automated instant message-delivered intervention (i.e., EMI) for people with mild cognitive impairment to reduce their NPS, and to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of the intervention.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

  1. Message contents:

    The message content library will consist of four parts: 1.orientation, 2. brief mild cognitive impairment education messages, 3. acceptance and commitment therapy messages, 4.booster message.

  2. Message delivery

    • Regular messages: The messages in the four parts will be sent regularly to each participant. As personalisation is a core process subject to behavioural changes, the timing of the messages will be determined based on participants' preferences. To save labour and increase efficiency, the investigators will develop a message 'scheduler' program. The investigators will pre-set the message scheduler, which will then automatically send out content to the participants according to their preferences. The development of the program is highly useful particularly in cases which participants prefer to receive messages during non-office hours.
    • Real-time support messages (chat-type): Chat-based support will be given to the participants as an extension of the regular messages. However, the participants will be informed beforehand that the RA will only play a supportive role and will not provide formal care. The number of the chat messages will not be limited, but the real-time support messages will only be provided during working hours on weekdays to limit the RA's workload.

Control Group:

The control group will receive instant messages about mental health management from GovHK website (https://www.gov.hk/en/residents/health/mental/), which is open to the public.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

160

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 Contact

  • Name: Doris Sau Fung Yu, Professor
  • Phone Number: +852 3917 6319
  • Email: dyu1@hku.hk

Study Locations

  • Hong Kong
      • Hong Kong, Hong Kong
        • Recruiting
        • The University of Hong Kong
        • Contact:
          • Doris Sau Fung Yu, PhD
          • Phone Number: +852 3917 6319
          • Email: dyu1@hku.hk

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Community-dwelling adults aged ≥ 50 years
  • HK-MoCA score ranged from 18 to 22
  • MBI-C ≥7
  • SCD-9 ≥3
  • IADL =18
  • Able to read and communicate in Chinese
  • Able to use the text or voice messaging function on a smartphone

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Clinical diagnosis of dementia
  • Clinical diagnosis of psychiatric disease
  • Currently participating in any type of psychological or behavioural intervention for NPSs
  • Currently taking psychiatric medication
  • Currently receiving acute care or post-acute hospitalization care

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: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention group
Participants in intervention group will receive the EMI for 9 weeks. Based on the steps of mobile message development recommended by Abroms, et al., our multidisciplinary team - including a neurologist, nurses, clinical psychologists and gerontologists - will develop an ACT message content library and protocol for IM delivery (i.e. EMI).
Behavioral: automated instant message-guided neuropsychiatric symptoms management
Participants in intervention group will receive the EMI for 9 weeks. Based on the steps of mobile message development recommended by Abroms, et al., we will develop a message content library and protocol for EMI delivery.
Active Comparator: Control group
The control group will receive instant messages about general mental health management from the HKSAR Government website in 9 weeks, which is open to the public (https://www.shallwetalk.hk/en/mental-well-being/mental-well-being-is-related-to-you/), with reminder text messages of follow-up surveys.
Behavioral: general mental health management
Participants in control group will receive the messages for 9 weeks. The control group will receive instant messages about general mental health management from the HKSAR Government website, which is open to the public (https://www.shallwetalk.hk/en/mental-well-being/mental-well-being-is-related-to-you/), with reminder text messages of follow-up surveys.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
MBI-C scores
Time Frame: at baseline, 10th week and 24th week
The primary outcome will be MBI-C scores to assess NPSs. A higher MBI-C scores will indicate a higher level of neuropsychiatric symptoms.
at baseline, 10th week and 24th week

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Depressive symptoms (PHQ-9)
Time Frame: at baseline, 10th week and 24th week
Each item was scored on a 4-point scale (0 "not at all" to 3 "nearly every day"). The total score is calculated by summing up the score of all items (range 0-27). High scores indicate worse depressive symptoms.
at baseline, 10th week and 24th week
Anxiety symptoms (GAD-7)
Time Frame: at baseline, 10th week and 24th week
A 7-item scale with score ranging from 0 to 21, higher scores indicate higher severity of anxiety symptom
at baseline, 10th week and 24th week
Quality of life (EuroQol 5-dimension 5-level questionnaire [EQ-5D-5L])
Time Frame: at baseline, 10th week and 24th week
The EQ-5D-5L assesses five health dimensions: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression, each rated on five levels of severity, with scores ranging from -0.864 to 1, where higher scores indicate better quality of life. Additionally, it includes a visual analogue scale (VAS), ranging from 0 (the worst health imaginable) to 100 (the best health imaginable).
at baseline, 10th week and 24th week
Cognitive functions (HK-MoCA)
Time Frame: at baseline, 10th week and 24th week
The total score is calculated by summing up the score of all items. Higher scores indicate better cognitive function.
at baseline, 10th week and 24th week
Acceptance of negative emotions and valued-based actions (AAQ-II)
Time Frame: at baseline, 10th week and 24th week
AAQ-II is a measure of psychological flexibility. Each item is rated on a 7-point scale from 1 = never true to 7 = always true. Scores range from 1-49. A lower score indicates a lower level of psychological flexibility.
at baseline, 10th week and 24th week
Subjective Cognitive Decline scale (SCD-9)
Time Frame: at baseline, 10th week and 24th week
SCD-9 is a scale detecting subjective cognitive function. Higher socre indicate worse subjective cognitive function.
at baseline, 10th week and 24th week

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

The University of Hong Kong

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Doris Sau Fung Yu, Professor, School of Nursing, The University of Hong Kong

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

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 (Actual)

December 8, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 12, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 12, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

February 19, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 18, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 13, 2026

Last Verified

February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • IMPACT2025

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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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