Digital Interventions in Neuro-Rehabilitation: Gotcha!

Sponsor
University College, London
Study ID
NCT04570215
Status
Completed

Conditions

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
N/A - N/A
Healthy Volunteers
Not accepted

Interventions

  • Gotcha! Therapy application — OTHER
    Gotcha! will provide an app-based therapy for people with dementia who have difficulty naming people they know well. The therapy element works via mass practice and feedback to the users on a trial-by-trial basis. The DNI is very simple in a way; it just presents a long series of pictures for users to name. This DNI will use speech recognition (SR) software in order to make a binary decision as to whether the user said the correct word or not. This affects what the next trial (object to name) is and what auditory cue (if any) is provided the next time the user has to name the same item.
  • Gotcha Therapy application: Maintenance — OTHER
    Gotcha! Maintenance therapy is identical to Gotcha! but takes place over a longer period of time in an attenuated form.

Study Details

Aims and background Everyone forgets the names of people they should know at times. Having dementia makes this problem worse. People with dementia have told expressed they forget the names of people they care about and this can be upsetting and embarrassing. However, evidence shows that if people get enough practice, they can re-learn these names. The investigators, along with people with dementia and their carers, have created a fun therapy for people to get lots of practice so they can remember the names of people that are important to them. The main aim of the study is: To prove that Gotcha! therapy can help people with dementia to improve their ability to remember names. Another aim is: To find out if using the therapy is related to any changes in the brains of people with dementia. Design and methods Participants are provided with a computer tablet to practise at home. Participants are required to think of 6-10 familiar people (family and friends) whose names they forget and want to remember better. Participants also need to practise every day for about 30 minutes over a 6 week period so they get a large amount of therapy. Participants will have 7 testing appointments over 12 months. At three of these appointments participants will need to have a brain scan. These scans are carried out by trained University College London professionals and will take no longer than 30 minutes each. For the appointments where participants do not need to have a brain scan home testing can be arranged. The investigators organise and pay for all journeys to and from University College London. Participants Participants can get involved in our research if they: * Have ever experiences seeing a familiar person but can't remember their name * Have a diagnosis of dementia (Alzheimer's disease or mixed dementia). * Want to be part of an important and exciting research journey. Unfortunately a diagnosis of other any other types of dementia not mentioned above is not suitable for this study Patient and Public involvement The investigators have engaged with people from the Alzheimer's Society and local dementia carers groups, run many focus groups and interviewed people with dementia and their carers to co-design the therapy. At the end of our research participants are invited to University College London to learn about the results of the study.

Key Dates

Start date
Sep 17, 2019
Status verified
Jan 2026
Primary completion
Dec 4, 2024
Completion
Dec 4, 2024

Study Design

Enrollment
48 participants (actual)
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
OTHER

Arms

  • Active Comparator: Gotcha! Therapy Application
    Participants will receive the Gotcha therapy daily for six weeks.Participants are required to use the app everyday for a maximum of 45 minutes. After this time they enter a twelve week block with no therapy or maintenance of therapy (see Gotcha maintenance arm). This aim of this arm is to invesitgate the efficacy of the Gotcha therapy for proper-noun anomia in mild-moderate patients with dementia (Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia and mixed)
  • Active Comparator: Gotcha! Therapy Application: Maintenance
    Participants will receive the Gotcha therapy for six weeks as described in the Gotcha arm. After this time they enter a twelve week block of maintenance of therapy gains made in the initial six week therapy block. The maintenance block consists of a weekly test of the Gotcha outcome measure to monitor the therapy gains made during the therapy block. If any previously correctly named person is incorrectly named during these weekly tests then the participant must complete a 'top-up' therapy session. They will then be tested again the following week. The aim of this arm is to compare Gotcha maintenance with Gotcha, to see if extra testing and therapy is required to maintain gains made during an initial intense therapy block.

Primary Outcome Measure

Gotcha! Outcome Measure [ Time Frame: T1 (baseline = initial assessment) to T4 (immediately following 6 weeks of Gotcha! therapy) ]

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