NCT03166072

Health Education vs Meditation in Irreversible Age-Related Vision Loss Patients and Their Caregivers

• Status: Not Yet Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 150 (estimated)
• Sponsor: London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute OR Lawson Research Institute of St. Joseph's · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 85 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Investigators aim to assess the feasibility of delivering two augmentation interventions, Meditation and a Health Enhancement Program, for potentially enhancing the quality of life and mental health of Irreversible Age-Related Vision Loss (IARVL) patients and/or their caregivers.

Detailed description

Using a mixed-method design, a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) study, investigators aim to assess the feasibility of delivering two augmentation interventions, Meditation to Remove Stress and Create Proper System in Mind (MEDITATION) and a Health Enhancement Program (HEP) for potentially enhancing the quality of life and mental health of Irreversible Age-Related Vision Loss (IARVL) patients and/or their caregivers. MEDITATION is a standardized, manualized therapy where participants will be guided by an instructor on meditation techniques, followed by weekly reinforcement sessions. HEP is a similarly structured intervention that controls for several factors experienced in the MEDITATION group, such as group support and morale, behavioral activation, reduction of stigma, facilitator attention, treatment duration, and time spent on at-home practice. Participants will learn about health promotion, including the benefits of a lifestyle of healthy diet, music, recreation, and exercise, but will not learn breathing techniques, or meditation.

Conditions

• Low Vision, One Eye, Unspecified Eye
• Low Vision Blindness

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Meditation	This therapy will be delivered using the hospital approved Microsoft TEAMS platform by trained, certified non-clinician teachers. 25 irreversible age-related vision loss patients and their 25 caregivers in the MEDITATION arm will be trained for 2 consecutive days (2 hours/day) in the first week, followed by 1-hour weekly reinforcement sessions for 11 weeks. Participants will learn how to respond to experiences that arise in meditation, will discuss what enhances or detracts from effective meditation, and review methods for meditating at home. Weekly reinforcement sessions will include 33 minutes of guided meditation practice, and then focus on participants' experiences with meditation during the week, additional observations, and a review of relevant knowledge to support their home practice. Each of these follow-up sessions will include a 33-minute guided meditation session. Participants will also be encouraged to practice daily at home for 33 minutes per session.
OTHER	Health Enhancement Program	HEP was designed and used as a manualized active control in meditation-based intervention trials. We have tailored HEP to be structurally equivalent to MEDITATION intervention, with similar-sized groups, meeting for 2 days for 2 hours, and then one 60-75-minute follow up session weekly for the subsequent 11 follow ups. Participants allocated to HEP will be completing the same amount of home practice as MEDITATION, and will be asked to complete weekly practice logs. Participants will learn about health promotion, including the benefits of a lifestyle of healthy diet, music, recreation, and exercise, but will not learn breathing techniques, or meditation. In HEP, which is provided according to specific guidelines for administration, participants get the support of a group and facilitator, and talk through and try to implement positive health-enhancing life changes.

Timeline

• Start date: 2026-04-20
• Primary completion: 2027-06-15
• Completion: 2027-12-20
• First posted: 2017-05-24
• Last updated: 2026-02-03

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Canada