NCT05640492

Metacognitive Training in the Older Adults With Depressive Symptoms (MCT-Silver)

Metacognitive Training in the Older Adults With Depressive Symptoms

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 120 (estimated)
• Sponsor: University of Évora · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 60 Years – 105 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Depression is one of the most common mental disorders in older adults and a major cause of years lived with disability. Depression does not always respond to antidepressants, and non-pharmacological interventions are recommended by international guidelines. The Metacognitive Training for Depression in Later Life (MCT-Silver) is a creative and innovative group intervention that aims to reduce depressive symptoms by challenging the cognitive and metacognitive beliefs characteristic of this disorder, that intends to enable participants to recognize and correct their automatic and dysfunctional thinking patterns and behavior. It was developed by the partner institution's team, and has already demonstrated positive results. This project aims to extend the research study to Portugal, through cultural adaptation, pilot study, and a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT). To this end, we defined the following aims: To plan and conduct a pilot study to assess the efficacy of the MCT-Silver in the Portuguese population; To conduct a multicenter randomized controlled trial (RCT).

Conditions

• Depressive Symptoms

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Metacognitive Training for Depression in Later Life (MCT-Silver)	MCT-Silver consists of eight modules, each of which begins with psychoeducational and "normalizing" elements. A mastery is presented through examples and exercises, and the fallibility of human cognition is discussed and illustrated. In a second phase, the pathological extremes of each cognitive bias are highlighted and the participant is shown how the exacerbation of (normal) thinking biases can lead to problems in daily life. It is intended with this exercise that participants learn how to identify and mitigate cognitive "traps". Dysfunctional coping strategies (social isolation and negative thoughts) are highlighted, and suggestions for replacing them with adaptive strategies are given. Homework assignments are distributed at the end of each session (Schneider et al., 2018).

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-01-05
• Primary completion: 2023-09-01
• Completion: 2024-12-01
• First posted: 2022-12-07
• Last updated: 2023-08-09

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Portugal