Smart Reminders to Promote Home-based Cognitive Training

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Adherence, Treatment
• Interventions: Behavioral: Standard Reminder System (Active Control); Behavioral: Adherence Promotion With Person-centered Technology (APPT) System

• Registration Number: NCT05016856
• Lead Sponsor: Florida State University

Brief Summary

This study will examine whether among older adults an adaptive and personalized reminder system can better support adherence to home-based cognitive training over typical reminder systems.

Detailed Description

Many cognitive training interventions are associated with poor adherence, and poor adherence is associated with fewer benefits. Further, poor adherence in cognitive intervention studies can interfere with answering fundamental questions regarding intervention efficacy. This study will compare the effects of non-adaptive and smart adherence support systems. Participants will be asked to engage in frequent home-based cognitive training on a computer tablet. In the smart adherence support condition, participants will receive adaptive and tailored reminders based on dynamic algorithms that deploy reminders in a way that considers participant preferences, days and times of previous successful engagement, the success of previous reminder attempts, and answers to brief questions contained within reminder prompts. Parameter weights for these variables will be adjusted dynamically over a 6-month assessment period to ensure that reminders are deployed when they are most likely to be acted upon. This study will investigate adherence to training sessions, multiple times each week for 6 months, representing a large challenge to adherence. Participants will be randomly assigned to one condition or another, and adherence at home will be monitored. This will be an Individually Randomized Group-Treatment Trial (IRGT).

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2021-07-28
• Study First Submitted QC: 2021-08-17
• Study First Posted: 2021-08-23
• Study Start: 2022-11-07
• Primary Completion: 2024-10-31
• Study Completion: 2025-01-01
• Status Verified: 2025-02
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-02-20
• Last Update Posted: 2025-02-24

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 190

Inclusion Criteria

• 65 years of age or older
• normal or corrected to normal visual acuity
• must pass a dementia screening

Exclusion Criteria

• Parkinson's, Alzheimer's disease, or any other neurodegenerative disease
• terminal illness
• blindness or deafness
• severe motor impairment
• not living in the Tallahassee area for the entire 6 month study period
• unable to read at or above 6th grade level

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: FACTORIAL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Reminder Only Condition	Standard Reminder System (Active Control)	To promote adherence, participants will receive generic reminders when home-based cognitive training has not been completed. This will be in the form of a text message to participants' smart phone.
Smart Adherence Support Condition	Adherence Promotion With Person-centered Technology (APPT) System	To promote adherence, participants will receive reminders when home-based cognitive training has not been completed. This will be in the form of a text message to participants' smart phone. In this condition, participants will receive adaptive and tailored reminders based on dynamic algorithms that deploy reminders in a way that considers participant preferences, days and times of previous successful assessments, the success of previous reminder attempts, and answers to brief questions contained within reminder prompts. Parameter weights for these variables will be adjusted dynamically over a 6-month assessment period to ensure that reminders are deployed when they are most likely to be acted upon.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Adherence (session number)	6 months	Number of sessions over 6 months
Adherence (session length)	6 months	Number of sessions reaching at least 80% of the assigned session duration over 6 months
Adherence (holidays)	6 months	Number of extended gaps in between sessions over 6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Personality (predictor of adherence)	Assessed at baseline, predicting adherence variables over 6 months	Measure of stable traits
Objective Cognition (predictor of adherence)	Assessed at baseline, predicting adherence variables over 6 months	A composite measure of objective cognitive ability
Technology Proficiency (predictor of adherence)	Assessed at baseline, predicting adherence variables over 6 months	A composite measure of proficiency with technology
Perceived Training Efficacy (predictor of adherence)	Assessed at baseline, predicting adherence variables over 6 months	A composite measure of belief in the the efficacy of cognitive training
Dementia Worry (predictor of adherence)	Assessed at baseline, predicting adherence variables over 6 months	A composite measure of anxiety over cognitive decline
Self-Efficacy (predictor of adherence)	Assessed at baseline, predicting adherence variables over 6 months	A composite measure of self-efficacy (beliefs held about ability to complete tasks)
Subjective Cognition (predictor of adherence)	Assessed at baseline, predicting adherence variables over 6 months	A composite measure of subjective cognitive deficit
Busyness Scale (predictor of adherence)	Assessed at baseline, predicting adherence variables over 6 months	Self-reported environmental demands of day-to-day life

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Department of Psychology, Florida State University; 🇺🇸 Tallahassee, Florida, United States