Feasibility Study
Conditions
Keywords
Cognition, Perception, Aged, Healthy Volunteers, Learning
Brief summary
The present study investigates the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of a novel visual arts-based intervention in an older adult population. In a randomized controlled design, two arts-based interventions will be evaluated with a group of 40 participants.
Detailed description
A two-arm randomized controlled study will be conducted to obtain within-group ratings of feasibility and acceptability, as well as between-group differences in drawing skills after training. In the drawing intervention, participants will learn and train drawing skills through exercises that target attention, perception, and visuospatial reasoning. In the active control condition, participants will navigate virtual art galleries. Both interventions will be completed remotely and at home. Participants will complete in-lab assessment sessions before and after the training. Each intervention consists of 6 weeks of training for up to 2 hours a week, including up to 1 hour of a self-guided lesson and prompted daily drawing practice adding up to 1 hour in the drawing intervention and 2 1-hour sessions of virtual gallery exploring per week in the arts appreciation intervention. The pre-test is administered within one week of the start of training and the post-test is administered within one week of training completion.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALTraining in observational drawing
* Learning about and practicing drawing from observation with training adding up to 2 hours a week * Documenting progress and reflection writing
BEHAVIORALArts engagement through digital galleries
* 6 weeks of online gallery browsing based on different topics * 2 hours of weekly activities consist of reading and navigating technology * Reflection writing
Sponsors
Northeastern University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
SINGLE (Subject)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
55 Years to 85 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* 55-85 years of age * Able to understand and speak English and follow study procedures * Does not have a psychological or neurological condition that would prevent from being able to give consent to participate
Exclusion criteria
* Formal diagnosis of dementia or other neurological disease, including Mild Cognitive Impairment * Abnormal visual acuity prohibitive of tablet-based training * Physical handicap (motor or perceptual) that would impede training procedures * Medical illness requiring treatment and/or significant absences during the study timeline
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Acceptability - Age appropriateness | Throughout training (weeks 1-6 of training) | Perceived age-appropriateness of the course content, likert scale 0-5 |
| Acceptability - engagement | Throughout training (weeks 1-6 of training) | Level of engagement with the course materials, likert scale 0-5 |
| Acceptability - Welcoming | Throughout training (weeks 1-6 of training) | How welcoming participants perceived the activities, likert scale from 0-5 |
| Feasibility - completion rate | At the post-test 6-8 weeks later | % of participants who completed both testing sessions |
| Feasibility - adherence | At the post-test 6-8 weeks later or when a participant decided to drop out | Number of lessons that participants completed, from 0-6 |
| Feasibility - Frequency | Throughout training (weeks 1-6 of training) | Total number of times participants logged their progress |
| Feasibility - Attrition | At the post-test 6-8 weeks later or when a participant decided to drop out | List of common reasons for drop-out and the number of times a reason was mentioned |
| Change in Drawing skills | Pre-test (baseline) and post-test 6-8 weeks later | Participants will have 7 minutes to draw a still life from observation. Accuracy is scored using a rubric assessing accuracy on global and local features. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in Perception - contour integration | Pre-test (baseline) and post-test 6-8 weeks later | Participants tap on circles of aligned Gabors embedded in a scene of randomly oriented Gabors. A circle will be present for 3 seconds and switch to the next trial if it is not seen. Orientation jitter threshold will be measured. |
| Change in Perception - visual disembedding | Pre-test (baseline) and post-test 6-8 weeks later | articipants search for a target shape in 3 complex gestalts of overlapping shapes. Participants select the complex shape containing the target. Number of correctly answered trials accuracy are measured. |
| Change in Visuospatial Reasoning - construction and memory | Pre-test (baseline) and post-test 6-8 weeks later | 3D Mental Rotation (3 min) will test mental transformation. Participants will be briefly shown two figures and asked to determine whether the figures are the same or mirror reversed. Number of correctly answered trials accuracy are measured. |
| Change in Visuospatial Reasoning - mental transformation | Pre-test (baseline) and post-test 6-8 weeks later | 3D Mental Rotation (3 min) will test mental transformation. Participants will be briefly shown two figures and asked to determine whether the figures are the same or mirror reversed. Number of correctly answered trials accuracy are measured. |
| Change in Attention | Pre-test (baseline) and post-test 6-8 weeks later | A cancellation task will measure selective attention. Participants correctly mark as many d's with two marks as they can in a set amount of time. A score of concentration performance is extracted by subtracting the sum of false alarms from the sum of hits. |
| Change in Mindfulness | Pre-test (baseline) and post-test 6-8 weeks later | Participants complete a version Solloway Mindfulness Survey adapted to drawing. The questionnaire includes 30 questions on a 7-point scale on the degree to which engaging in drawing is related to different aspects of mindful attention. |
| Change in Mental Wellbeing | Pre-test (baseline) and post-test 6-8 weeks later | Mental Wellbeing is assessed by the WEMWBS, which includes 14 questions on a 5 point scale about positive mental wellbeing. |
Countries
United States
Contacts
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORSusanne Jaeggi, PhD
Northeastern University
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORAaron Seitz, PhD
Northeastern University
Outcome results
None listed