Aging, Cognitive Decline
Conditions
Brief summary
Social isolation and reduced involvement in cognitive activities are associated with repercussions on cognitive well-being and health status in elderly adults. In particular, loneliness and social isolation represent risk factors in favouring cognitive decline and dementia. The Social Cognition Online Training (SCOT) project aims to evaluate the beneficial effects of an online intervention on social-cognitive functioning in healthy elderly subjects.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALSCOT
A 8-week social and cognitive online training to improve both cognitive and social functioning, which includes 2 sessions (\ 45 minutes each) of individual cognitive training through the BrainHQ© program 2020 (BrainHQ© Posit Science) and a psycho-educational group session for each week (24 sessions in total). In the experimental intervention, all activities are focused on enhancing executive functions (working memory, processing speed, inhibitory control etc.) and social cognition abilities (identifying/recognizing facial expressions, styles attribution, drawing conclusions etc.).
BEHAVIORALCON
A 8-week active control intervention consisting of 2 sessions (\ 45 minutes each) of cognitive stimulation exercises and a group session for each week (24 sessions in total) during which the various cognitive domains are deepened and the exercises carried out during the week are reviewed all together. The online control intervention has been specifically designed to increase the cognitive involvement of the subjects and to replicate the condition of exposure to social dynamics.
Sponsors
Università degli Studi di Trento
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
65 Years to 90 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Cognitively healthy subjects aged above 65 years old * Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) equivalent score \> 1 (Italian normative values)
Exclusion criteria
* Diagnosis of dementia, based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, FifthEdition (DSM-V) * History of current or previous neuropsychiatric disorders; * History of current or previous substance abuse;
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| The Tower of London test (Boccia et al. 2017) | Day 0 - Month 3 | Accuracy (% of correct answers) |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Experimental task of emotion recognition | Day 0 - Month 3 | Accuracy (% of correct answers) |
| Italian Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale | Day 0 - Month 3 | Minimum value: 18; Maximum value: 72; Higher scores mean a worse outcome in terms of perceived loneliness. |
Countries
Italy
Contacts
Primary ContactAlessandra Dodich
Outcome results
None listed