Speed of Processing Training in Adults With HIV

Summary

As people age with HIV, the synergistic effects with normal age-related cognitive declines will accentuate and/or accelerate declines in cognitive functioning which can be detected as early in one's 40s. Although interventions are needed to protect/improve cognitive functioning, one intervention already exists to improve speed of processing. NINR/NIA (January 14, 2014) announced that Speed of Processing Training used in the ACTIVE Study (N = 2,802 community-dwelling older adults) has the ability to enable "older people to maintain their cognitive abilities as they age" even 10 years after training. As shown in the ACTIVE Study, this intervention uniquely improves driving, instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), health-related quality of life, self-rated health, internal locus of control, and protects one from depression; these represent areas of needed intervention for adults with HIV as well. In adults with HIV, previous pilot studies likewise indicate speed of processing declines are associated with poorer driving simulator performance and more self-reported at-fault automobile crashes; such speed of processing declines on driving alone represent a significant public health concern. These studies also demonstrated that Speed of Processing Training improved this cognitive ability and translated into improved performance on a timed measure of IADLs. Based on prior research, this RCT proposal consists of a pre-post two-year longitudinal experimental design whereby 264 adults with HIV, 40+ years and diagnosed with HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorder, will be randomly assigned to one of three training conditions: 1) 10 hours of laboratory-based Speed of Processing Training, 2) 20 hours of laboratory-based Speed of Processing Training, or 3) 10 hours of a standardized computer-contact control (sham) condition.

AIM 1: Determine whether 10 vs 20 hours of speed of processing training will improve this cognitive ability at post-test, year 1, and year 2 after baseline.

AIM 2: Determine whether 10 vs 20 hours of speed of processing training will improve everyday functioning at post-test, year 1, and year 2 after baseline.

Exploratory AIM: Determine whether improvement in speed in speed of processing and/or everyday functioning over time mediate improvement quality of life (e.g., depression, health related quality of life).

Conditions

• HIV
• Cognition - Other
• Impaired Driving

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Speed of Processing Training

These are specific computerized exercises that are designed to increase the rate in which people can process visual information.

OTHER

Internet Navigational

This is a sham condition in which participants will receive the same amount of social and computer contact as those randomized to receive the 10 hours of speed of processing training. In this condition, participants will learn how to do various activities on the internet.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Alabama at Birmingham

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• David E Vance, PhD · University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Nursing

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

40 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2016-09-28

Primary Completion

2020-03-11

Completion

2020-03-11

Countries

• United States

Study Locations