Prospective Memory Training in Parkinson Disease

Summary

The long term goal of this work is to reduce disability among people with Parkinson disease (PD) by enabling them to cope with cognitive decline so they can perform and participate in desired activities and roles. This project focuses on prospective memory, or the ability to remember to execute delayed intentions at the appropriate moment in the future. The current study tests the effects of two primary cognitive intervention approaches (process training \& strategy training) on prospective memory performance in PD. The investigators will conduct a single-blind randomized controlled trial in which individuals with mild cognitive impairment in PD (PD-MCI; N = 90) will complete pre-training assessment, randomization to training group (control, process training, strategy training), four training sessions (process and strategy training groups), and post-training assessment.

Conditions

• Parkinson Disease

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Strategy Training

Participants will attend four strategy training sessions total. In sessions 1 and 2, in addition to teaching about event- and time-based tasks, the trainer teaches the participant specific strategies for each type of task (implementation intentions for event-based and strategic clock-checking for time-based). In sessions 3 and 4, the trainer tells the participant s/he will be practicing both types of tasks in the training games and can support the participant's strategy use if needed. Feedback on accuracy and strategy use are provided after each training game. At the end of each session after completing the training games, the trainer and participant discuss how the strategies can be applied to the participant's real-life prospective memory goals, and the trainer helps the participant develop written action plans to do so. Plans are reviewed (and modified if necessary) at each session.

BEHAVIORAL

Process Training

Participants will attend four process training sessions in this group. In sessions 1 and 2, the trainer teaches the participant about event- and time-based prospective memory tasks, respectively. In sessions 3 and 4, the trainer simply tells the participant that s/he will be practicing both types of tasks in the training games. In all sessions, the participant completes the training games with no strategy instruction from the trainer. Feedback on accuracy is provided after each training game. At the end of each session after completing both training games, the trainer reminds the participant of his/her real-life prospective memory goals, provides a handout that lists the goals, and instructs the participant to try to complete them as intended. Of note, even this minimal level of discussion of real-life cognitive tasks is not typical of process training interventions, but we include it to control for that which is occurring in the strategy training group.

BEHAVIORAL

Control Group

Participants in this group do not attend any sessions during the time the other groups are participating in the Strategy or Process Training

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Washington University School of Medicine

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

SINGLE

Model

FACTORIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

50 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2017-10-01

Primary Completion

2020-07-01

Completion

2020-07-01

Countries

• United States

Study Locations