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The Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) in Older Lonely Individuals

NCT05937022 · Status: RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 135

Last updated 2023-07-12

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

This randomized clinical trial aims to test the effects of 10 sessions of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on social and emotional functions in lonely older adults.

The main objectives include:

* Understand whether tDCS could successfully boost positive social processing and social motivation in older adults, paralleling its effect on non-social reward processing;
* Understand whether the reduced negative and increased positive social processing in older adults would translate to an increase in real-life social activity and a decrease in loneliness feeling;
* Examine the intervention efficacy of tDCS among the aged population;
* Understand whether the tDCS effect could be long-lasting (i.e., 1 and 3 months after intervention).

Participants will be lonely older adults aged 60 or above and screened on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Eligible participants will be randomly allocated to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) tDCS group, the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) tDCS group, or the sham control group. Participants will complete an Emotion Rating Task, questionnaires assessing their psychosocial functions, and neuropsychological tests assessing their cognitive functions at baseline, after the 5th stimulation session, immediately after the 10th stimulation session, and 1 month and 3 months after the 10th stimulation session.

Conditions

  • Loneliness

Interventions

DEVICE

Experimental Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS)

This study will deliver tDCS sessions for ten sessions completed within two weeks. Consecutive tDCS sessions are separated by at least 24 hours. Participants assigned to one of the two experimental groups will receive 20 minutes of active stimulation with a 2mA intensity over the corresponding brain regions.

DEVICE

Sham Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS)

This study will deliver tDCS sessions for ten sessions completed within two weeks. Consecutive tDCS sessions are separated by at least 24 hours. Participants assigned to the sham control group will receive 30 seconds of active stimulation over brain regions identical to either the left DLPFC or the right VLPFC experimental tDCS group.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • The University of Hong Kong

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Tatia Mei-chun LEE, PhD · The University of Hong Kong

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
60 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2022-12-03
Primary Completion
2024-12-31
Completion
2025-12-31

Countries

  • Hong Kong

Study Locations

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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 NCT05937022 on ClinicalTrials.gov