Cognitive Rehab and Exposure Treatment for Hoarding
- Conditions
- Hoarding Disorder
- Interventions
- Behavioral: Cognitive Rehabilitation and Exposure/Sorting Treatment (CREST)Behavioral: Exposure Therapy (ET)
- Registration Number
- NCT02402647
- Lead Sponsor
- VA Office of Research and Development
- 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 Description
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.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 115
- Veterans age 18-85
- Hoarding Disorder diagnosis outlined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5)6 as measured by the Structured Interview for Hoarding Disorder (SIHD)67
- HD as a primary diagnosis
- Stable on medications for at least 12 weeks, with no pharmacologic changes expected or made during the 12-month study
- Voluntary consent to participate
-
Diagnosis of:
- psychotic disorder
- substance abuse disorder as measured by the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.)68
-
Current or history of any neurodegenerative disease
-
Active suicidal ideation
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Concurrent participation in psychotherapy or ET for HD, or prior history of CREST for HD
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description Cognitive Rehabilitation and Exposure/Sorting Treatment (CREST) Cognitive Rehabilitation and Exposure/Sorting Treatment (CREST) Compensatory Cognitive Training (CCT) is a manualized, low-tech, cognitive training intervention designed to target cognitive impairments common in people with psychiatric illness. The CCT modules specifically selected for CREST map onto known areas of HD neurocognitive deficits or weakness and include training in prospective memory, prioritizing, problem solving, planning, and cognitive flexibility. Symptoms of acquiring and saving are themselves avoidance behaviors that are performed to avoid internal distress related to negative thoughts and emotions. Avoidance serves to reduce distress related to the beliefs regarding the necessity and utility of possessions. In the CREST condition, the second part and the majority of treatment is dedicated to exposure therapy (ET) for discarding and not acquiring while in the control condition, the entire treatment will consist of ET. Exposure Therapy (ET) Exposure Therapy (ET) The investigators propose to use a robust control condition, exposure therapy (ET), with the same frequency and amount of therapist contact as CREST. Twenty-six weekly, individual ET sessions (6 months) will be delivered. The control group will receive ET for all 26 sessions and no cognitive training. As in CREST, the ET sessions will be manualized and copies utilized during session by both the patient and therapist.
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Saving Inventory Revised Baseline to 6 month-follow-up (12 months total) Hoarding symptom severity (primary outcome) will be measured using the Savings Inventory-Revised (SI-R)56, a 23-item self-report measure used to assess common hoarding symptoms. Subscales include clutter, acquisition, and difficulty discarding. The SI-R has demonstrated good internal consistency, divergent validity, concurrent validity, and test-retest reliability in clinical samples with hoarding. The total score will be used for analyses. Total of 23 items divided into 3 subscales, each item Likert scale ranges from 0-4 (0= not at all, 4= extreme), Clutter Subscale (9 items): scores greater than 13 indicate clinical significance (Max score=36), Difficulty Discarding/Saving Subscale (7 items): scores greater than 13 indicate clinical significance, Acquisition Subscale (7 items): scores greater than 15 indicate clinical significance (Max Score= 28). Total Max score = 92. A Total score greater than 40 is a typical score for people experiencing challenges with hoarding behaviors.
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method UCSD Performance-Based Skills Assessment (UPSA) Baseline to 6 months post-treatment (on average 1 year) The University of California San Diego (UCSD) Performance-Based Skills Assessment (UPSA)76 is an assessment of everyday functioning skills including household skills (e.g., writing a shopping list based on a recipe, range 0 to 4), communication (e.g., rescheduling appointments, range 0 to 12), finance (e.g., paying a utility bill, range 0 to 11), comprehension and planning (e.g., planning outings, range 0 to 14), and transportation (e.g., comprehension of a bus schedule, range 0 to 9). The subscales are scored, converted to a percentage, and weighed equally toward the total score of 100; higher score equals better performance for all subscales and total. 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. \*Nearly half of each timepoint was out of 60 due to adjustments for COVID-19, a total of 60 was used with financial, communication, and planning subscales.
UCSD SORT Test Baseline to 6 months post-treatment The UCSD SORT Test (U-SORT) is a cognitive test that 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. Each item has a correct response and 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 (range of 0 to 42). A higher total score indicates a higher level of organizational skills. 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) Baseline to 6 months post-treatment Self-reported functioning (secondary outcome) will be assessed with the Specific Levels of Functioning test (SLOF)78, a 43-item Likert scale questionnaire with higher scores indicating higher levels of functioning. Subscales include interpersonal relationships (score range of 7 to 35), social acceptability (score range of 6 to 30), participation in activities (score range of 11 to 55), and work skills (score range of 6 to 30). Total of 30 items across four categories and each item ranges from the scale of 1-5 (higher values= better outcomes). Category A. Interpersonal Relationships (items 1-7): 5= Highly Typical, 1= Highly Untypical. Category B. Social Acceptability (items 8-13): 5= Never, 1= Always. Category C. Activities (items 14-24): 5= Totally Self Sufficient, 1= No Opportunity to perform. Category D. Work Skills (items 25-30): 5= Highly Typical, 1= Highly Untypical. Total Max Score Range= 30-150).The SLOF has demonstrated excellent reliability and internal consistency.
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA
🇺🇸San Diego, California, United States