Mindfulness Meditation for Cognition and Mood

Summary

The purpose of this pilot study is to collect feasibility and acceptability of an internet mindfulness meditation intervention for older adults and to collect preliminary data on mood and cognition changes from before to after the intervention. Up to 32 older adults will be randomized to receive a mindfulness meditation intervention or a time and attention control, both delivered over the internet (16 completers). Participants will have a one-hour session weekly for six weeks with daily home practice between sessions. Participants will complete the sessions online with a study iPad. Their home practice will also be installed on the study iPad as well as an objective adherence monitoring program that the investigators developed to track actual home practice between sessions. The feasibility and acceptability measures are enrollment rate, completion rate, and participant satisfaction. Self-report mood questionnaires and cognitive tasks will be measured before and after the intervention period and data used to conduct power analyses and sample size estimation for a larger clinical trial.

Conditions

• Stress, Psychological

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Mindfulness Meditation

A standardized and structured program based on Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and has been piloted in our laboratory.Each session included 1) discussion on stress, relaxation, meditation, and mind-body interaction, 2) instruction and practice in formal and informal MM, and 3) enquiry about problem-solving techniques regarding success and difficulty in practicing mindfulness. Formal meditation instruction included a mindful Body Scan and Sitting Meditation (awareness of breath, body sensations, cognitive and emotional processes). Informal practice of mindful daily activities (e.g., washing dishes) was also taught to generalize mindfulness beyond the formal meditations. A 3-minute meditation was offered as a quick coping strategy, and it could be practiced with or without a guided recording.

BEHAVIORAL

Education

The Education control was matched for session time and home practice. The internet sessions included a general health video and questions about the material. For home practice, the participants listened to podcasts about the same topic. The session topics were 1) Healthy Eating, 2) Healthy Exercise, 3) Healthy Sleep, 4) Healthy Brain, 5) Healthy Mood, and 6) Community Involvement.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Oregon Health and Science University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Helane Wahbeh · Oregon Health and Science University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

65 Years

Max Age

90 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2013-09-30

Primary Completion

2015-05-31

Completion

2015-05-31