300,000+ clinical trials. Find the right one.

279 active trials for Dementia

Tele-STELLA: Using Technology to Advance ADRD Family Education and Support

STELLA (Support via Technology Living and Learning with Advancing Alzheimer's disease and related dementias) is a multicomponent video-conference based intervention that aims to help family members caring for persons of dementia as well the person with dementia. The goal of this intervention is to reduce upsetting behaviors and care partner burden. Caring for a family member with Alzheimer's disease or related dementia (ADRD) can come with many burdens that affect not only the care partners' physical and psychological health but also barriers to access. Due to factors such as distance and cost, Internet-based interventions like STELLA are a great alternative to in-person interventions because it can still address the specific needs of families living with dementia. The hypothesis of this study is that care partners will show significant improvements in burden and depression following the intervention. STELLA is also designed to facilitate effective management of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). To accomplish this, up to 40 care partners and their 40 care recipients with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias will participate in an 8-week intervention with the support of a Guide (e.g. nurse or social worker). However, the primary focus of this study is on care partners. With the support of a Guide, care partners will identify strategies to address upsetting behaviors in the moderate to late stages of dementia. More specifically, a Guide will help care partners identify and modify distressing behavioral symptoms of dementia. Based on quantitative and qualitative approaches, the effect of the intervention on care partner affective symptoms, including depression and burden, as well as quality of life for both the care partner and the person with dementia will be assessed.

Start: February 2021
The "Motoric Cognitive Risk" Syndrome in the Quebec Population

The overall objective of the proposal is to examine the epidemiology of the newly reported "motoric cognitive risk" (MCR) syndrome, which is a pre-dementia syndrome combining subjective cognitive complaint (i.e.; memory complaint) with objective slow gait speed, in the Quebec elderly population. Cognition and locomotion are two human abilities controlled by the brain. Their decline is highly prevalent with physiological and pathological aging, and is greater than the simple sum of their respective prevalence, suggesting a complex age-related interplay between cognition and locomotion. Both declines in cognition and locomotion are associated, furthermore the temporal nature of their association has been unclear for a long time. Recently, a systematic review and meta-analysis has provided evidence that poor gait performance predicts dementia and, in particular, has demonstrated that MCR syndrome is a pre-dementia syndrome, suggesting that low gait performance is the first symptom of dementia. The uniqueness of MCR syndrome is that it does not rely on a complex evaluation or laboratory investigations. Indeed, this syndrome combined subjective cognitive complaint and objective slow gait speed, and is easy to apply in population-based settings. Prevalence and incidence of MCR syndrome, as well as its association with incidence of cognitive decline and impairment, have never been reported in Canada. Nutrition as a determinant of successful aging: The Quebec longitudinal Study (the NuAge study) is a Quebec population-based observational cohort study performed in healthy older community-dwellers adults which provides a unique opportunity to: 1) obtain reliable estimates of MCR syndrome prevalence and incidence, 2) determine the distribution of clinical characteristics associated with MCR syndrome, 3) examine the association of MCR syndrome with cognitive decline and incidence of cognitive impairment in the Quebec elderly population.

Start: December 2016
Interprofessional Dementia Care

Currently, around 1.7 million people with dementia live in Germany. The number of new cases per year is estimated to be around 244,000. At this time, no curative treatment for dementia exists. The progression of the disease results in high needs for care. Only a minority among People with Dementia (PwD) receive needs-based treatment and directive-compliant care. Previous studies found that more than 95% of PwD have an open need for care. The increase in chronically and multimorbid impaired patients leads to an increased number of patients in primary care. Particularly in rural regions, innovative care concepts based on a redistribution of tasks between specialized nurses and doctors could help to guarantee high-value care at all times. Nursing care can be expanded with regards to tasks and competencies, which is thought to increase the attractiveness of the nursing profession. Unfortunately, there are currently no scientific studies on the effectiveness and impact of such care concepts in Germany. The Aim of this study is to implement a structured care concept for the reallocation of tasks between general practitioners (GPs) and nurses and to evaluate its effectiveness on the living and care situation of people with dementia living at home. "InDePendent" is a multicenter, cluster-randomized, controlled intervention study with a waiting-control group. Randomization is carried out at the level of the participating GPs in a ratio of 1:2 (intervention group : waiting-control group).

Start: January 2021
Improving Everyday Task Performance Through Repeated Practice in Virtual Reality.

There are very few effective interventions that promote functional independence in people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias. This R21 project is the first step in the long-term goal of developing an effective, enjoyable, portable, and inexpensive non-immersive virtual reality (VR) training intervention for improving the performance of everyday tasks. The investigators' VR training approach is built upon the results of past studies that show 1) when people with AD repeatedly practice daily tasks they subsequently perform them more completely and without error; and 2) healthy people are able to transfer skills learned in VR-contexts to tasks in the real world. This R21 study will obtain preliminary data to inform a future randomized clinical trial through three aims: Aim 1) To test the hypothesis that individuals with mild-moderate AD will show improved performance on an everyday task after repeatedly practicing the task in a non-immersive VR setting; Aim 2) To explore usability and acceptability of the VR training as well as associations between individual differences variables (e.g., cognitive abilities, demographics) and training effects. To test Aim 1, 40 participants with mild to moderate AD will be recruited to complete daily VR Training sessions for one week. VR Training will include repeated practice of a single, everyday task in a non-immersive VR-context (VR Breakfast or VR Lunch; counterbalanced across participants). The primary outcome measure is performance of the real-life version of the trained task, which will be collected before and at two time points after training, compared to performance of an untrained, control task of comparable difficulty, and scored from video by coders blinded to training task/condition. To evaluate Aim 2, all participants and an informant will complete interviews and questionnaires and participants will complete tests of cognitive abilities. Usability and acceptability of the VR training will be evaluated and associations between participant variables and VR Training results will be explored. If the proposed hypothesis is supported and results show that training effects generalize from virtual to real tasks in the study sample, then VR training of custom and individualized tasks will be investigated in a future randomized, controlled clinical trial for maintaining and improving functional abilities in people with mild to moderate AD.

Start: January 2021
Supporting Elderly People With Cognitive Impairment During and After Hospital Stays- Intersectoral Care Management

Sectorisation of the German health care system causes inefficient treatment, especially in elderly with cognitive impairments. At time of transition from hospitals into primary care it lacks, among others, coordination of post-operative care or timely communication between healthcare providers. This results in deterioration of disease and comorbidities, higher rates of re-admission and institutionalizations. Models of collaborative care have shown their efficacy in primary care. Main goal is to test the effectiveness of Dementia Care Management (DCM) for people with cognitive impairment to improve treatment and care across the in-hospital and primary care sector. The study design is a complex, longitudinal, multisite randomized controlled trial. It was designed to treat a hospital-based epidemiological cohort of people above the age of 70 with an adaption of DCM, a treatment proven to be effective in primary care, to the discharge setting. As part of this, specifically trained study staff will develop, implement and monitor a treatment and care plan, based on comprehensive assessments during the hospital stay, recommendations at discharge and unmet needs at home. For the 3 months after discharge study staff will coordinate treatment and care in close cooperation with the discharging hospital, treating physician and other care providers. Expected results from the study should facilitate the implementation of intersectoral care management systematically on a large scale. Thus, the benefits shown in the trial would be available to a larger population. Results will not be limited to PCI, but rather to any people transitioning between the in-hospital and the primary care sector. Thus, the benefits would be available to elderly people in general.

Start: November 2018
Effects of Visual Cues and Education for People Who Live Within Long Term Care Communities to Assist in Wayfinding

The ability to find one's way in the world is known as wayfinding. Many older adults who live in senior communities, such as independent living and assisted living residences, find wayfinding very challenging. Often times, these communities are not designed in a way that helps people find their way very easily. When people cannot find their way, they can get lost, be dependent upon others for getting out and about, or even be afraid to leave their rooms. The purpose of this study is to find out if distinctive signs and decorative elements, along with a special type of education called Spaced-Retrieval education, help residents in these communities find their way more effectively. Twelve senior communities will be assigned by chance to one of three conditions, including: 1) control - no change (the community stays the same); 2) signs and decorative elements enhanced; and 3) signs, decorative elements, and special education added. After agreeing to be in the study, the participants will be asked to find their way to certain places in their community four times over a year. Some people will be asked to participate in educational sessions on wayfinding. In addition, some people will be asked to wear a location tracker, (like a fitness tracker), for four weeks during the year. How well people find their way, along with how much they travel about within the communities, will be compared between the three groups. It is hypothesized that those in the communities with special signs and decorative elements will find their way more effectively than those in the control communities. It is also hypothesized that participants in the communities with the special education intervention will find their way better than those without the education. Finally, it is hypothesized that participants in the communities with signs and cues and education will travel about further distances than those in the control communities. The results of the study can help people who have a tendency to get lost find their way more effectively in their community, and this could result in more independence.

Start: April 2019