Combining Attention and Metacognitive Training to Improve Goal Directed Behavior in Veterans With TBI

Summary

Veterans with mild traumatic brain injury continue to deal with symptoms that interfere with their ability to engage in productive activities. In combination with other psychosocial difficulties, impairments are found in cognition, such as attention and executive function. Few interventions are available to treat attention in Veterans with mTBI. Of the interventions available, none rigorously train attention combined with strategy training. This project will innovatively combine a strategy training called Goal Management Training with computerized attention training to improve tests of problem solving, attention and functional tasks compared to a control group.

Conditions

• Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Goal Management Training

GMT: is a 10-session intervention to improve planning and problem solving. Interactive Power Point modules are administered by a cognitive therapist. Each session builds on the steps of a five-stage planning and problem-solving strategy. Veterans will be taught to generate and verbalize the following five-steps: "stop-what am I doing?", "define the goal", "list the steps", "learn the steps"; then, "check-am I doing what I planned?" The five-stage strategy is then incorporated into a variety of activities in the laboratory and in-home assignments.

BEHAVIORAL

Attention Training

Attention Process Training (APT-III) will be administered for a second weekly session in addition to the GMT session. Each session will be 2 hours/ week for 10 weeks. Veterans will also engage in BrainHQTM attention training at home for one-hour, five days/ week comprised of selected components of BrainHQ from Posit Science Corporation. This web-based computerized CRT modality of cognitive training is a restorative or "bottom-up" approach that targets basic cognitive skills such as arousal and vigilance processes, attention and information processing, and directly engages fundamental attention-control skills through repetitive graded exercises.

BEHAVIORAL

Brain Health Workshop

. BHW was developed specifically for consistency with GMT session length and contact with the facilitator49. BHW is an education presentation on brain function and cognitive principles of learning with homework and quizzes on information covered. To match time and contact of attention training, control participants will meet with the therapist for a separate two-hour session from BHW

BEHAVIORAL

National geographic movies

participants will select movies to watch and answer a few questions about to equate the time and therapist interaction to attention training in arm 1.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• VA Office of Research and Development

  lead FED

Principal Investigators

• Julia K. Waid-Ebbs, PhD · North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System, Gainesville, FL

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

19 Years

Max Age

55 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2019-01-01

Primary Completion

2022-12-31

Completion

2022-12-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations