Working Memory Training for Substance Dependent Individuals

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Addiction; Anxiety; Substance Dependency; Depression
• Interventions: Behavioral: Placebo training; Behavioral: Working memory training

• Registration Number: NCT02119949
• Lead Sponsor: Erasmus Medical Center

Brief Summary

Background: Substance abusers show impaired working memory (WM) functioning. Promising findings show training WM results in an improved working memory capacity (WMC) and a decrease of clinical symptoms in a range of disorders, including alcohol addiction.

Aim: To test the effect of a WM training in addition to treatment as usual (TAU) on substance use, craving, WMC, impulsivity, attention bias and psychopathology.

Design: A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial with a parallel group design. The WM training adapted to participants' WMC whereas the placebo training consisted of non-adaptive easy versions of these tasks.

Setting: Two departments of an addiction treatment clinic in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Participants: 120 inpatients diagnosed with an alcohol, cannabis or cocaine dependency who were in treatment as usual .

Measurements: Primary outcome measures: Substance use and craving. Secondary outcome measures: WMC, impulsivity, attention bias and psychopathology. Participants were assessed before and after 24 sessions of WM training as well as two months after the training.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2012-05
• Study First Submitted: 2014-04-08
• Study First Submitted QC: 2014-04-18
• Study First Posted: 2014-04-22
• Primary Completion: 2014-06
• Study Completion: 2014-06
• Status Verified: 2014-08
• Last Update Submitted: 2014-08-20
• Last Update Posted: 2014-08-21

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 180

Inclusion Criteria

• Substance dependency: cocaine, cannabis or alcohol

Exclusion Criteria

• Age below 16 or above 67
• Current psychosis
• Neurological complaints

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Placebo training	Placebo training	-
Working memory training	Working memory training	-

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Craving: Desires for Alcohol Questionnaire and Desires for Drug Questionnaire score change and Obsessive Compulsive Drug Use Scale and Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale score change between pre and post training and follow up (two months after post)	Pre (baseline), post (after 4 weeks of training-starting 1 day after pre-test) and follow-up (2 months after post-test)	The 14-item Desires for Drug Questionnaire (DDQ) and the 13-item Desires for Alcohol Questionnaire (DAQ) measure instant craving to respectively drug and alcohol. The DDQ is based on the DAQ.; The Obsessive Compulsive Drug Use Scale (OCDUS) and Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS) measure the subjective interference and distress caused by respectively drug and alcohol related thoughts and compulsive-behavior patterns.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change in Digit Span score on pre and post training and follow up after two months	Pre (baseline), post (after 4 weeks of training-starting 1 day after pre-test) and follow-up (2 months after post-test)	The Digit Span task consists of two parts: the forward Digit Span is a frequently used measure for short term memory, an important subcomponent of the memory system (Shipstead, Redick, \& Engle, 2012) and the backward version measures WM.
Change in Reading Span partial-scredit uni score on pre and post training and follow up after two months	Pre (baseline), post (after 4 weeks of training-starting 1 day after pre-test) and follow-up (2 months after post-test)	The Reading Span measures the processing and storage functions of WM (Shipstead et al., 2012), specifically participants' ability to shift between two tasks and to cope with proactive interference.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Bouman Clinic; 🇳🇱 Rotterdam, Zuid Holland, Netherlands