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Promoting Mental Acuity in Elderly Populations Through Incentive for Technology Use

NCT00805259 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 312

Last updated 2013-12-19

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

In this between-subject randomized controlled trial the investigators will test the impact of three novel structured financial incentives: atomistic, altruistic and team-based. These incentive schemes will be used to motivate one month of daily use of software designed to improve cognitive function (including memory, reaction times, attention and executive function) among the elderly. The 400 participants will be members of retirement communities in Pennsylvania. Three outcomes will be monitored and analyzed: activities completed using the software (primary), performance on the activities, and changes in cognitive functioning. This study is designed to be a pilot study. The investigators will have 90% power to find a mean daily difference of 4 activities completed in the control group versus 7 activities completed in the incentive groups assuming a standard deviation of 3.5 and an alpha of 0.017 (the bonferroni corrected significance level to account for multiple comparisons). In addition during a three month "follow-up period" all participants will have continued access to the software, however, no incentives will be provided for use. This period will be used to assess the impact of the initial incentives on long run use after financial incentives have ceased.

Conditions

  • Cognitive Function

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Financial incentives

Financial incentives based on use of software designed to promote cognitive function

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Pennsylvania Department of Health

    collaborator OTHER_GOV

  • National Institute on Aging (NIA)

    collaborator NIH

  • Carnegie Mellon University

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • George Loewenstein, PhD. · Carngie Mellon University

  • Kevin Volpp, MD PhD · Univeristy of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Bereans Administration Medical Center

  • Heather Schofield · Harvard University

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
55 Years
Max Age
85 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2010-08-31
Primary Completion
2011-05-31
Completion
2011-05-31

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Companies

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT00805259 on ClinicalTrials.gov