NCT03432754

Health Education and Lifestyle Training in Older Adults

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 74 (actual)
• Sponsor: Ohio State University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 60 Years – 74 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The investigators conducted a mindfulness training intervention in older adults aimed at examining the effects of brief mindfulness training on mind wandering as well as the cognitive and affective functioning of older adults. Individuals completed pre- and post-assessments of mind wandering and cognitive functioning. Additionally, all participants completed neuropsychological measures and self-report questionnaires.

Detailed description

Age-related differences in sustained attention may be related to the prevalence and content of task unrelated thought or mind-wandering. Older adults report less mind-wandering in sustained tasks than younger adults, something that is surprising due to the reduced performance on tasks. It is clear that both cognitive and emotional processes underlie comprehension and sustained attention and relate to prevalence of task unrelated thought and performance. A complex process such as reading comprehension presents a challenge for improvement because of the wide range of changes that occur with age. Pharmacological therapies can target only a limited number of the many changes believed to underlie functional decline. One way that may mitigate these declines in performance in a broad way is mindfulness training. Thus, the investigators conducted a randomized study to assess the effects of mindfulness training relative to an active health education control group on mind wandering and controlled processing abilities in older adults. All individuals that contact the Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory (CNLab) with interest underwent a phone screening assessing inclusion/exclusion criteria.Those participants meeting I/E criteria were invited to participate in the study. During the first assessment session, written informed consent was obtained; additional inclusion/exclusion measures were administered; and self-report questionnaires and assessment measures were completed. Following the first assessment session, four training sessions took place. Participants were randomized into either the a mindfulness training intervention or a health education intervention. Subsequently, all participants were invited back for post-assessment session.

Conditions

• Older Adults

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Mindfulness-Based Attention Training	The mindfulness-based attention training is closely modeled after the traditional mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) protocol, it incorporates formal MBSR practices such as breath exercises, body scans and long sitting meditations. Specifically, MBAT is an abbreviated version of MBSR with a focus on the cognitive components.
BEHAVIORAL	Lifestyle Education	The control group, which will be used to compare the effects of mindfulness training on emotional and cognitive functioning and mind wandering in older adults, will comprise of scientific health and lifestyle information. Lectures will be focused on concepts presented in the book "The Culprit and the Cure: Why lifestyle is the culprit behind America's poor health and how transforming that lifestyle can be the cure." Meetings will cover how to begin and maintain a more nutritious diet, classifying healthy choices across food groups, completing stretching/toning exercises, and reviewing homework.

Timeline

• Start date: 2014-10-20
• Primary completion: 2015-04-29
• Completion: 2015-04-29
• First posted: 2018-02-14
• Last updated: 2018-02-14