Evaluation of the Wits Workout Wellness Program for Older Adults

Not Applicable

Completed

Conditions: Cognitive Decline
Health Behaviors
Social Isolation
Self Efficacy

Interventions: Other: Control Group that receives intervention after the study
Behavioral: Wits Workout Program

Registration Number: NCT04928885

Lead Sponsor: University of Illinois at Chicago

Brief Summary: About 11% of the U.S. older adult population is at risk for or suffers from subjective cognitive decline. While some factors such as genetics and habitual physiological changes that affect brain health cannot be changed, research has shown that lifestyle changes such as participation in regular physical activity, staying socially engaged, and managing stress and diet can help to delay or reduce cognitive decline. Yet few brain health promotion programs exist and those that do fail to focus on global health and wellness as a strategy to improve brain health. Wits Workout is a holistic, 12-session, 60-minute per session, multi-modal workshop series that offers adults ages 50 and older facilitated, interactive dialogue and activities about behaviors that promote brain health. Each week includes a different themed module which has four activities and a training component.

Detailed Description: While research has shown that lifestyle changes such as participation in regular physical activity, staying socially engaged, and managing stress can help to delay or reduce cognitive decline, few cognitive brain health programs exist. Those that do are targeted to a specific audience (i.e., Alzheimer's and related dementias) and primarily focus on one health domain (i.e. physical activity, diet) without the additional focus on multi-dimensions of health, which can also include intellectual engagement, social isolation, stress, sleep, and self-efficacy. Thus, there is a need for a more holistic cognitive health program aimed toward the general older adult population and particularly those that are underserved due to geographic location.

Wits Workout, is a multi-modal 12-session (60 min/week) workshop series designed to enhance brain health among people ages 50 and older. Wits Workout addresses multiple factors that affect cognitive health such as physical activity, diet, intellectual engagement, social isolation, stress, sleep, and self-efficacy. The holistic workshop series is designed to be lay-leader led, interactive, and experiential. Preliminary evaluations demonstrate that this educational series serves a need in reducing isolation, increasing physical activity, promoting intellectual engagement, and enhancing overall brain health in older participants, all of which complement current aging brain health research. The researchers propose to conduct a two-arm randomized controlled trial with a treatment (workshop) group (n=120) and wait-list control group (n=120) who will receive the program after the 6-month study period is completed.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: COMPLETED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 285

Inclusion Criteria

50 years or older
English-speaking and/or able to understand English
Have no diagnosis of Alzheimer's or related dementia
Score 28 or higher on the TICS cognitive screening
Able to participate in the 12 week program
Have not previously participated in a Wits Workout program

Exclusion Criteria

Under age 50,
Unable to speak or understand English,
Have a diagnosis of Alzheimer's or related dementia,
Score lower than 28 on TICS
Plan to miss more than two weeks of the program (i.e. traveling during that time period)
Have previously participated in a Wits Workout program.

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
WW Control Group	Control Group that receives intervention after the study	Individuals will be on a waitlist and will take the baseline, 3 mos and 6 mos. assessments. They will receive the Wits Workout workshop after the 6 month study period is completed.
WW Treatment Group	Wits Workout Program	Individuals will receive the 12-week Wits Workout Program. Individuals will take the baseline, 3 mos and 6 mos follow-up surveys. They will also take the Wits Workout satisfaction survey and participate in the 6 mos focus-groups.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change in Cognitive Function	Baseline prior to the workshop, at 3 months after baseline and at 6 months after baseline	The PROMIS Cognitive Function measure used to measure cognitive functioning. Raw score is converted into the T-score, with 50 being the mean score. 10 T-score is one standard deviation. Therefore, score above 50 means that a person is better than the average population in mental ability, and lower score meaning worse or disability. The score changing over time can indicate decline in cognitive function (lower score) or improved cognitive function (higher score) or no decline or improvement (same score).
Change in Cognitive Status	Baseline prior to the workshop, at 3 months after baseline and at 6 months after baseline	Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS). Used to measure cognitive status. For TICS - the minimum = 0 maximum = 50. Higher scores mean better cognition.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change in Social Satisfaction	Baseline prior to the workshop, at 3 months after baseline and at 6 months after baseline	Social Provisions Scale. Range of total score should be 24-96 with higher scores being a better outcome.
Self-efficacy	Baseline prior to the workshop, at 3 months after baseline and at 6 months after baseline	PROMIS general self efficacy short-form. Survey scores are changed into a T score, with a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10. The higher the score the greater the self-efficacy.
Change in Sleep	Baseline prior to the workshop, at 3 months after baseline and at 6 months after baseline	Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). The PSQI has 7 sections which are scored. The seven component scores are then summed to yield a global PSQI score, which has a range of 0-21; higher scores indicate worse sleep quality.
Change in Physical Activity Levels	Baseline prior to the workshop, at 3 months after baseline and at 6 months after baseline	Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE). Scores range from 0 to 793, with higher scores indicating greater physical activity
Stress	Baseline prior to the workshop, at 3 months after baseline and at 6 months after baseline	Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Total scores range from 0 to 40. Higher scores indicate higher stress.