Computerized Cognitive Training Program for Older Persons With Mild Dementia

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Little is known about the effects of computerized cognitive training programs on mild dementia patients' health. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a community-based computerized cognitive training program.

Detailed Description
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Little is known about the effects of computerized cognitive training programs on mild dementia patients' health. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a community-based computerized cognitive training program.However, most of these studies were not randomized controlled trial and the samples of these studies were mostly healthy older persons, patients with brain injuries, or with moderate and severe dementia. A lack of studies for effects of these programs on patients with mild dementia using randomized controlled trials was found. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a community-based computerized cognitive training program.

Conditions
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Dementia

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: A community-based computerized cognitive training program


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Patients' Inclusion Criteria: Aged 65 or older, Being diagnosed as having mild dementia by a neurologist, and Being able to communicate in Mandarin or Taiwanese. Patients' Exclusion Criteria: Vision or hearing impairment. Caregivers' (proxy) Inclusion Criteria: Living with the dementia patient, The family member spending the most time on the patient's care, and >20 years old. Caregivers' (proxy) Exclusion Criteria: Terminally ill

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 65 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| No Intervention: Control group<br>Patients receive only usual hospital care | |
| Experimental: Experimental group<br>Patients receive only usual hospital care and community-based computerized cognitive training program | Other: A community-based computerized cognitive training program<br>* The computer training games included: 1) a phonological loop to train the participants to choose correct song from a list of different songs which can be categorized as people, nature, and musical instrument. The difficulty level progressed from choosing one from two to choosing one from three songs; 2) a visual-spatial sketchpad to train the participants to remember and find the same graphs including vegetable, fruits, daily necessity, and numbers. The difficulty level progressed from finding one pair to three pairs of similar graphs; 3) a central executive system to train the participants to execute dual tasks including conducting dual memory, calculating while listening to music, making phone calls, and matching medication at correct time.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Cognitive Abilities as assessed by Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument. |  | 3 months | 
| Memory as assessed by Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire. |  | 3 months | 
| Cognitive State as assessed by Mini-Mental State Examination |  | 3 months | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Depression as assessed by Geriatric Depression Scale. |  | 3 months | 
| Quality of Life as assessed by Chinese Dementia Quality of Life, DQoL. |  | 3 months | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Cognitive function, Depression, Quality of life, Community-based computerized cognitive training program, Randomized controlled trial