Effect of Cognitive Empathy Training on Dementia Caregivers

Summary

The goal of this project is to investigate the effect of cognitive empathy training on mental health, inflammation, and immune function in caregivers of people living with dementia (PLWD), and to examine the underlying psychological and neurobiological mechanisms.

The primary aim is to establish the effectiveness of cognitive empathy training in improving caregiver mental health and immune function, and in decreasing caregiver inflammation

The secondary aim is to investigate the psychological and neurobiological mechanism by which cognitive empathy training improves caregiver well-being

Conditions

• Caregivers of People Living With Dementia
• Dementia

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Cognitive Empathy Training

Participants will engage in a mentalization activity by captioning photos of their care recipients, reflecting on what the care recipient might be thinking or feeling. Over 10 days, caregivers will take 3-5 daily pictures of their care recipient and caption each with descriptive text representing the recipient's inner voice. This task encourages caregivers to consider the care recipient's perspective and motivations behind their behavior or emotional experiences. Photos will be shared securely via encrypted email. Utilizing accessible smartphone technology, the study allows caregivers to capture and reflect on meaningful moments with their care recipients

BEHAVIORAL

Control Condition

In the control condition, participants will be asked to take 3-5 daily photographs of nature over 10 days. They will be asked to caption each photo with a description of what they see. This exercise will involve many of the same activities as the cognitive empathy training, except that participants will not be mentalizing or taking the the perspective of their PLWD or anyone else.

PROCEDURE

Pre and post intervention blood spot collection

At their initial study visit, participants will provide a blood spot sample for measurement of C-reactive protein, pro-inflammatory cytokines and Epstein-Barr virus antibody titers.

PROCEDURE

Pre and post intervention MRI session

In this study, caregivers will be positioned in a Siemens Trio 3T MRI scanner for functional imaging. They will view images of their care recipient care recipient, other similar care recipients care recipient, and photographs of friends or family members, pressing a button each time they see their care recipient care recipient's photo to monitor attention. The task involves viewing eight photos of four individuals with happy and neutral expressions, followed by rest periods. This sequence repeats five times, with each stimulus presented for 5 seconds and inter-trial intervals of 2, 3, or 4 seconds, totaling 11 minutes and 15 seconds. A subsequent 10-minute diffusion-weighted scan will assess brain white matter integrity, using 60 diffusion directions. All scans will be completed within 40 minutes.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute on Aging (NIA)

  collaborator NIH

• Emory University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• James Rilling, PhD · Emory College of Arts & Sciences

• Kenneth Hepburn, PhD · Emory School of Nursing

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

50 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-02-13

Primary Completion

2028-11-01

Completion

2028-11-01

Countries

• United States

Study Locations