B-Fit Intervention to Improve Brain Health — B-Fit  

Aging Clinical Trial

Official title: B-Fit Intervention to Improve Engagement in Healthy Brain Aging Activities in Middle-aged and Older Adults

Status Recruiting

Clinical Trial Summary

An accumulating body of research indicates that activities such as exercise, active cognitive and social engagement, good sleep hygiene, stress reduction and proper nutrition are associated with the maintenance of cognitive health. Emerging data also suggests that healthy lifestyle behaviors may promote brain plasticity. Despite nationwide efforts to raise public awareness about brain health, there remains a gap concerning how to best promote behavioral change and help at-risk middle-aged and older adults adopt effective, evidence-based brain health behaviors into their everyday lives to maximize cognitive health. The objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of a 7-week group brain fitness intervention (B-Fit) for increasing preventative brain health behaviors and enhancing cognitive health in participants at-risk for cognitive impairment. We will also examine mechanisms of action of the B-Fit intervention through tracking of behavioral responses in the real-world environment using wearable sensors.

Clinical Trial Description

Participants will be middle-aged and older adults. Participants will be randomized to one of three conditions (B-fit, education only, wait-list). Outcome measures will be administered at baseline, post-treatment and at a one-year follow-up. Participants will also be asked to wear an actigraph for 7 days at baseline, post intervention and follow-up. One or two clinicians will lead the intervention groups, which will each have 8-12 group members. Both the B-Fit and education control conditions will meet 2 hours per week for 7 weeks. Participants in both conditions will receive identical educational materials provided in the form of weekly learning packets and presented to the group by the study clinician(s). At the first meeting, group members will be presented with an overview of the brain, cognitive aging, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia. Each subsequent group meeting will cover a specific topic. The topics will be presented to all groups in the following order: cognitive engagement, exercise and cardiovascular risk factors, nutrition, social engagement, sleep and stress reduction, and compensatory strategy use. The control condition will include presentation of the educational materials followed by expanded discussion about the materials among group members. In contrast, each meeting of the B-Fit intervention will follow a highly structured format. The format is designed to aid participants in identifying and setting realistic and valuable individualized brain health goals and in obtaining group support through problem-solving, modeling and encouragement. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Aging
• Health Behavior

• NCT number: NCT03454074
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: Washington State University
• Contact: Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe, Ph.D.
• Phone: 5093350170
• Email: schmitter-e@wsu.edu
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: February 15, 2018
• Completion date: December 30, 2022