Counterfactual Thinking and Decision-making in Parkinson's Disease

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The aim of this research is to verify the ability of counterfactual thinking about medical decisions in individuals affected by Parkinson's Disease when compared to healthy individuals.

Official Title
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Counterfactual Thinking About Clinical Decision and Decision-making in the Context of the Parkinson's Disease.

Conditions
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Parkinson Disease

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Counterfactual Inference Test


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion criteria: • Diagnosis of Parkinson's disease, according to the medical assessment performed by trained neurologists. Exclusion Criteria: Diagnosis of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome, according to the clinical assessment; Concurrent neurological, neurodevelopmental (e.g., autism), motor, and/or psychiatric disorders; Dementia, according to the clinical/neuropsychological assessment.

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 20 Years
Maximum Age: 75 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Cases<br>Individuals diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease consecutively recruited at the beginning of rehabilitative treatment at the Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, San Giuseppe Hospital (Italy). Concurrent neurological, neurodevelopmental (e.g., autism), motor or psychiatric disorders were exclusion criteria. | Behavioral: Counterfactual Inference Test<br>* All participants were asked to complete the Counterfactual Inference Test - CIT (McNamara et al., 2003), a neuropsychological test that measures the ability to produce counterfactual-derived inferences. Moreover, the decision-making ability will be specifically tested through ad-hoc questionnaire (i.e., the Decision-Making Questionnaire). Finally, all participants will be screened with an extensive neuropsychological assessment, particularly on executive functioning.<br>|
| Controls<br>Age-matched healthy individuals recruited outside the hospital through personal contacts of the researchers and word-of-mouth. | Behavioral: Counterfactual Inference Test<br>* All participants were asked to complete the Counterfactual Inference Test - CIT (McNamara et al., 2003), a neuropsychological test that measures the ability to produce counterfactual-derived inferences. Moreover, the decision-making ability will be specifically tested through ad-hoc questionnaire (i.e., the Decision-Making Questionnaire). Finally, all participants will be screened with an extensive neuropsychological assessment, particularly on executive functioning.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| CIT score | Score at the Counterfactual inference test (CIT). The questionnaire is a four question forced choice test based on past research regarding factors that enhance counterfactual thinking. For each of the four questions, events experienced by two individuals are presented, and three response options are given. Only one option is the valid: the score is 1. For the not valid options, the score will be 0. Overall, the score range for the questionnaire is from 0 (worse performance) to 4 (best performance). | Baseline | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Decision-making index | Score at the Decision-Making Questionnaire. The self-report questionnaire assesses the decision making ability according to 7 questions, with a 5-item Likert's scale. The overall score (i.e., the sum of the scores at all questions) can range from 7 (worse decision making strategy) to 35 (best decision making strategy). | Baseline | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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counterfactual thinking, decision-making, neuropsychological assessment, clinical setting