NCT04143308

The Effects of Simultaneous Training of Walking and Cognitive Tasks on Cognitive Functions of People With Schizophrenia

The Effects of Simultaneous Training of Walking and Cognitive Tasks on Cognitive Functions of People With Schizophrenia: the Development of Mobile Application System and Effectiveness Analysis

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 90 (actual)
• Sponsor: Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 20 Years – 60 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The object is to develop a training system of simultaneous walking and cognitive training for improving cognitive function of people with schizophrenia. The training program, called "Simultaneous Walk And Think for Cognitive Health mobile application software"(SWATCH App), is developed by researchers. A randomized controlled trial will be carried out to test the effectiveness of the training system. Ninety participants will be randomly assigned to: simultaneous training of walking and cognitive group, the cognitive training group, and treatment as usual group. The intervention for those groups will lasts for 12 weeks, with a 12 week of followup. The measurements include the cognitive function, physical fitness, and quality of life.

Detailed description

Background: Schizophrenia is one of the severe mental disorders. In addition to psychiatric symptoms, cognitive impairment is a key clinical feature in this population, which significantly negatively influences their functional performance and independence. While the cognitive remediation therapy demonstrates positive results, it often involves specialized and expensive computerized cognitive training system, which limits its application in clinical setting. More evidence is available to support the benefits of exercise training on cognitive functions of schizophrenia. Combination of exercise and cognitive training is a promising program and can improve cognitive functions of the elderly. However, this combined therapy is still limited to schizophrenia. Simultaneous training of walking and cognitive tasks via auditory mobile application is an innovative program for saving cost, time, and manpower. Further study is needed to develop the simultaneous training program and to examine the effectiveness. Purposes: To examine the effects of the training program on cognitive functions, fitness, functional performance and quality of life. Methods: A 3-arm, single-blinded, randomized controlled trial is used to recruit 90 participants and then randomly allocated to the simultaneous training group, the cognitive training group, and the treatment as usual group. The first two training groups receive training for 30-40 minutes, 3 times a week for 12 weeks, as well as a follow-up of 12 weeks. All participants will be assessed at baseline, post-test and follow-up assessment. Primary outcome is cognitive function and secondary outcomes are fitness, functional performance, and quality of life. Contribution: The study can be used as an evidence-based program to improve cognitive functioning of people with schizophrenia. With the development of mobile App and the use of fitness wearable device, the training program enables people with schizophrenia to walk and practice cognitive training simultaneously in a group format. It will help clinical professionals be able to serve the increasing number of people with severe mental illness with less manpower and specialized equipment. The study is also helpful to better understanding the isolated role of aerobic exercise in the dual-task training, and to apply to other groups, like the elderly or dementia.

Conditions

• Schizophrenia
• Cognitive Function
• Physical Activity
• Quality of Life

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Simultaneous training of walking and cognitive group	Device: 1. SWATCH system (App \& controller) 2. Wearable technology Fitness wristband \& APP
OTHER	Cognitive training group	Device: 1. SWATCH system (App) 2. Wearable technology Fitness wristband \& APP
OTHER	Treatment as usual group	Keep treatment as usual

Timeline

• Start date: 2019-11-05
• Primary completion: 2021-07-07
• Completion: 2021-07-07
• First posted: 2019-10-29
• Last updated: 2024-06-21

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Taiwan