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Promoting Independence With Compensatory Cognitive Rehabilitation

NCT04820335 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 68

Last updated 2026-05-01

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the leading causes of disability in older adults. Because pharmacological approaches do not seem to prevent or slow the disease, clinicians need non-pharmacological interventions that might help people with AD remain independent for as long as possible. This study aims to evaluate the effects of a new behavioral treatment, the Structured External Memory Aid Treatment (SEMAT), for adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) designed to promote independent living skills by explicitly teaching the use of strategies and tools to compensate for cognitive weaknesses.

Aim 1: Evaluate the efficacy of the SEMAT for improving functional performance in a pilot randomized trial.

Aim 2: Evaluate demographic, clinical, and neuropsychological predictors of treatment adherence.

Aim 3: Develop and refine the SEMAT manual and other materials for training future interventionists.

Conditions

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Structured External Memory Aid Treatment (SEMAT)

During the 7 weeks of treatment, the interventionist will teach 3 categories of external memory aids (calendars, timers, notes) following an already-developed detailed treatment manual (described here briefly). Week 1: Introduction of External Memory Aid Treatment and Person-Centered Goal Setting. Weeks 2-7. In the next six weeks, three categories of external memory aids will be taught: calendars, timers, and notes. The focus of the first session will be how to use the strategies, and the second session will build awareness of when to use these strategies during everyday tasks. Within each category, three types of strategies will be taught to participants. Within each session, learning phases will follow training stages from compensatory learning theory: 1) acquisition phase, 2) application phase, and 3) an adaptation phase.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University of Delaware

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
60 Years
Max Age
90 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2022-02-01
Primary Completion
2025-09-15
Completion
2025-09-15

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Entities

Diseases

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 NCT04820335 on ClinicalTrials.gov