iMeditate at Home for Older Adults With Mild Cognitive Impairment and Caregivers
NCT ID: NCT04184037
Last Updated: 2022-03-02
Study Results
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Basic Information
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TERMINATED
NA
9 participants
INTERVENTIONAL
2019-11-15
2020-03-30
Brief Summary
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The current study is a pilot randomized control trial of a mindfulness meditation intervention delivered via the Muse platform in two study populations: a) older adults diagnosed with MCI, and b) family caregivers of persons with MCI or neurodegenerative disorders. Muse is a mobile application for meditation that provides real-time feedback about the user's state of mindfulness during meditation via a headband containing electroencephalographic sensors (EEG) that the user wears while meditating. It is thought that this neurofeedback can promote learning and lead to faster improvements in meditation ability and, consequently, greater benefits from meditation practice.
This aim of this pilot study is to establish the acceptability of the Muse platform as an intervention in the two study populations, to determine the feasibility of the randomized control trial designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a 6 week intervention with the Muse platform, and to evaluate the effect of neurofeedback on meditation. Participants will be randomly allocated to meditation with neurofeedback (NFB) or meditation without neurofeedback (no-NFB) and will complete daily meditation sessions for 6 weeks. An assessment visit before and after the intervention will evaluate participants' psychological well-being using questionnaires; their visual working memory, attention, and visual perception using behavioural tests; and their mindfulness ability using questionnaires and a behavioural measure. EEG will also be recorded using the Muse headband to examine changes in electrophysiological markers during cognitive tests and at rest.
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Detailed Description
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1. To determine if mindfulness meditation with auditory neurofeedback (NFB) leads to greater improvements in mindfulness relative to a mindfulness meditation without neurofeedback (no-NFB).
2. To determine if a mindfulness meditation intervention with neurofeedback leads to greater improvements in psychological well-being, with perceived stress levels as the primary outcome measure, in the two study populations, relative to a mindfulness meditation program without neurofeedback .
Secondary objectives of the main study are to determine if the NFB intervention leads to greater improvements in 1) other measures of psychological wellbeing and 2 ) behavioural and EEG markers of perceptual and cognitive function, relative to the no-NFB arm, in the two study populations (individuals with MCI; caregivers)
Feasibility and acceptability objectives of the pilot study
1. To evaluate the acceptability of the intervention for older adults with MCI and family caregivers of persons with MCI or neurodegenerative disorders, and to examine whether the acceptability of the intervention is associated with the individual's technological abilities.
2. To estimate the recruitment rate of older adults with MCI and family caregivers separately, as well as dyads of older adults with MCI and their caregivers.
3. To determine the rate of adherence to the intervention schedule (durations per session and number of sessions), and the rate of completion of assessment visits and weekly questionnaires
4. To determine the extent of technical expertise and time resources required of the experimenters to provide technical support to participants in each group
5. To determine the feasibility of blinding experimenters to the intervention arm and of blinding Muse-control participants to the neurofeedback group, given that information about the Muse app is easily available online.
6. To obtain preliminary estimates of the effects of Muse and Muse-control interventions on the psychological well-being, and perceptual and cognitive measures, and the standard deviations of these measures.
Procedures:
Briefly, participants will be enrolled on a continuous basis. After an initial pre-screening phone call or email, interested and eligible participants will come for a consenting and screening visit, which will include a clinical interview to screen for mental-health exclusion criteria, as well as exclusion related to prior use of the Muse device. All those eligible to proceed will return for a baseline assessment visit (Visit 2) where they will complete a series of computer-based task assessments and self-report questionnaires. At the end of the assessments, participants will be introduced to the research assistant responsible for the intervention (training RA). The training RA will train the participant on how to use the Muse headband and app associated with their training condition, as well as give instructions on the required training regimen. The next six weeks will consist of the training period. The training RA will contact participants by phone or email once a week to monitor for any issues. Following the training period, all participants will come back for Visit 3 to repeat the same assessments as were completed at baseline (Visit 2) with the experimenter RAs. All participants will be fully debriefed by the training RA during Visit 3 as to which version of the app they trained with and what the differences are between the two apps.
Sample size justification for the pilot study
A minimum of 12 participants per group and condition is required to provide feasibility and acceptability information. However, to obtain reliable estimates of the variability of each outcome measure, our target sample size is 20 participants per condition (i.e., 40 MCI participants in total and 40 caregivers in total). The actual sample size for the pilot study will be limited by the timeline of the project and the combination of recruitment and retention rates.
Recruitment:
Caregivers will be recruited through advertisements on the Baycrest campus or at institutions that provide services for caregivers. Older adults with MCI will be recruited at Baycrest through advertisements and by contacting eligible participants through the Baycrest Client Registry.
Conditions
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Study Design
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RANDOMIZED
PARALLEL
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
TRIPLE
Study Groups
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Auditory neurofeedback (NFB)
Participants in this arm will meditate with the help of a custom version of the Muse app, which guides users in meditation while providing auditory neurofeedback on their state of mindfulness. Participants will wear the EEG headband and headphones when completing the meditation sessions using the app. The neurofeedback consists of changing weather sounds that are heard against a background soundscape (e.g., a beach or rainforest sound). When a user is in a focused state, the weather in the soundscape is good (e.g., it is quiet or a light breeze can be heard). When a user starts mind-wandering, the weather sounds change for the worse: it begins to rain, the wind gets louder, and there may be thunder. When the user returns to a calm state, the weather sounds quiet down again and only the background soundscape is heard. Participants are asked to pay attention to the weather sounds and to use this feedback to train their mind to remain focused on the present moment.
Mindfulness meditation delivered via a mobile app
This is a six-week intervention that requires completing daily meditation sessions at home using a mobile app while wearing a four-channel EEG device (Muse,RRID:SCR\_014418) and headphones. Participants are asked to increase their session duration from 5 to 15 minutes over the first 10 sessions, and continue with 15 minutes thereafter. Meditation sessions in both intervention arms consist of listening to a calm soundscape while focusing one's attention on the present moment.
Prior to starting the intervention, participants are familiarized with the mobile device, EEG headband, and the study app during an onboarding session. In this session, participants listen to four different meditation exercise instructions (e.g., focusing attention on their breath, counting breaths, thinking of meditation akin to training a puppy) that offer them techniques to use during meditation.The transcript of these exercises and a basic guide on how to use the study app and headband are provided.
No neurofeedback (no-NFB)
Participants in this arm will meditate using a custom version of the Muse app that is identical in all respects to the mobile app used by the NFB group, expect that the auditory neurofeedback is not active. Participants will wear the EEG headband and headphones when completing the meditation sessions using the app, but the soundscape during the sessions will only contain the background sounds (e.g., the breach or rainforest scene), without any changes to the weather.
Mindfulness meditation delivered via a mobile app
This is a six-week intervention that requires completing daily meditation sessions at home using a mobile app while wearing a four-channel EEG device (Muse,RRID:SCR\_014418) and headphones. Participants are asked to increase their session duration from 5 to 15 minutes over the first 10 sessions, and continue with 15 minutes thereafter. Meditation sessions in both intervention arms consist of listening to a calm soundscape while focusing one's attention on the present moment.
Prior to starting the intervention, participants are familiarized with the mobile device, EEG headband, and the study app during an onboarding session. In this session, participants listen to four different meditation exercise instructions (e.g., focusing attention on their breath, counting breaths, thinking of meditation akin to training a puppy) that offer them techniques to use during meditation.The transcript of these exercises and a basic guide on how to use the study app and headband are provided.
Interventions
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Mindfulness meditation delivered via a mobile app
This is a six-week intervention that requires completing daily meditation sessions at home using a mobile app while wearing a four-channel EEG device (Muse,RRID:SCR\_014418) and headphones. Participants are asked to increase their session duration from 5 to 15 minutes over the first 10 sessions, and continue with 15 minutes thereafter. Meditation sessions in both intervention arms consist of listening to a calm soundscape while focusing one's attention on the present moment.
Prior to starting the intervention, participants are familiarized with the mobile device, EEG headband, and the study app during an onboarding session. In this session, participants listen to four different meditation exercise instructions (e.g., focusing attention on their breath, counting breaths, thinking of meditation akin to training a puppy) that offer them techniques to use during meditation.The transcript of these exercises and a basic guide on how to use the study app and headband are provided.
Other Intervention Names
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria
* Confirmation of the absence of progression to dementia within 90 days of study start by a physician or by the study staff
* Aged 55 years to 90 years
* Identify as a caregiver of a family member or friend living with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or any neurodegenerative disease
* Not be financially compensated for their caregiving work
* Aged 20 years to 90 years
* Passes the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status and Montreal Cognitive Assessment \> 23
Exclusion Criteria
* Stroke or history of transient ischemic attack (TIA)
* History of traumatic brain injury (TBI) with loss of consciousness lasting longer than 30 minutes
* Active cancer, history of chemotherapy, or history of radiation to the head
* History of psychiatric conditions including:
* Diagnosis of major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, or other psychiatric diagnosis within 90 days of study entry, or
* Lifetime history of psychosis, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, or post-traumatic stress disorder
* History of substance use within the past year
* Serious medical disease that would/could lead to death over the next 2-3 years (e.g. cardiac/renal/liver disease, or cancer) with poor prognosis
* Presence of visual impairment (binocular vision worse than Snellen acuity 20/40)
* Hearing loss that prevents the individual to hear sounds in the Muse app even with a hearing aid (if applicable), or incompatibility of their hearing aid with the Muse headband and inability to hear the Muse app sounds without the hearing aid
* Started taking psychotropic medication (anti-anxiety, anti-psychotics) or cognitive enhancers (memantine, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors) less than 3 months prior to randomization, or has had a change in dosages of any acetylcholinesterase inhibitors or cognitive enhancers within 6 weeks of randomization, or has had any changes in all types of medications or dosages within 4 weeks of randomization.
* Already engages in active meditation practice
* Is enrolled or recently completed (within 30 days) another intervention study or clinical trial
* Unable to understand, read, and speak English
20 Years
90 Years
ALL
No
Sponsors
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Center for Aging and Brain Health Innovation
UNKNOWN
InteraXon, Inc.
INDUSTRY
Baycrest
OTHER
Responsible Party
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Dr. Allison B. Sekuler
Sandra A Rotman Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience; Managing Director and Senior Scientist, Rotman Research Institute; Managing Director, Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation; Vice-President Research, Baycrest Health Sciences
Principal Investigators
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Allison B Sekuler, PhD
Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
Baycrest
Morris Freedman, MD, FRCPC
Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
Baycrest
Locations
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Baycrest
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Countries
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References
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Other Identifiers
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REB #18-34
Identifier Type: -
Identifier Source: org_study_id
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