Clinical trial NCT02119949: Working Memory Training for Substance Dependent Individuals
Official title: A Randomized Double-blind Placebo-controlled Trial to Working Memory Training in Substance Abusers
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Substance Dependency
Addiction
Anxiety
Depression
Keywords: Substance abuse
Addiction
Working memory
Craving
Impulsivity
Attention control
Lead sponsor: Erasmus Medical Center
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2014-04-22
Enrollment: 180
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 16
Maximum age (years): 67
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

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.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Substance dependency: cocaine, cannabis or alcohol

Exclusion Criteria:

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

Primary outcomes:
measure: 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)
timeFrame: Pre (baseline), post (after 4 weeks of training-starting 1 day after pre-test) and follow-up (2 months after post-test)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change in Digit Span score on pre and post training and follow up after two months
timeFrame: Pre (baseline), post (after 4 weeks of training-starting 1 day after pre-test) and follow-up (2 months after post-test)
measure: Change in Reading Span partial-scredit uni score on pre and post training and follow up after two months
timeFrame: Pre (baseline), post (after 4 weeks of training-starting 1 day after pre-test) and follow-up (2 months after post-test)
Other outcomes:
measure: Change in Barratt Impulsivity Scale-11 score on pre and post training and follow up after two months
timeFrame: Pre (baseline), post (after 4 weeks of training-starting 1 day after pre-test) and follow-up (2 months after post-test)
measure: Change in Stroop score on pre and post training and follow up after two months
timeFrame: Pre (baseline), post (after 4 weeks of training-starting 1 day after pre-test) and follow-up (2 months after post-test)
measure: Change in Beck Depression Inventory - Second Edition (BDI-II) score on pre and post training and follow up after two months
timeFrame: Pre (baseline), post (after 4 weeks of training-starting 1 day after pre-test) and follow-up (2 months after post-test)
measure: Change in State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) score on pre and post training and follow up after two months
timeFrame: Pre (baseline), post (after 4 weeks of training-starting 1 day after pre-test) and follow-up (2 months after post-test)
measure: Change in substance use, measured with the Addiction Severity Index over pre-, post (1 day after training) and follow-up (2 months after post-test) measurements.
timeFrame: Pre (baseline), post (after 4 weeks of training-starting 1 day after pre-test) and follow-up (2 months after post-test)
Locations:
city: Rotterdam
country: Netherlands
facility: Bouman Clinic
state: Zuid Holland
Study officials:
References: