Active clinical trials for "Dementia"

Advance care planning allows people to have their wishes taken into account even in the advanced stages of the persons' condition and at the end of life when the person may be unable to communicate. However, a recent review found an absence of high-quality guidelines for advanced care planning in dementia care. Since few evidence-based resources exist, the investigators propose a study to generate, refine, and pilot test an education information sheet designed to promote advanced care planning among families of persons with dementia.

The purpose of this study is to develop and test a physical activity-tracking smartphone app designed to facilitate physical activity in older adults with mild cognitive impairments or mild dementia. The app targets provides tips, messages, and strategies to overcome common barriers older adults face to being physically active. Participants will include older adults with memory or thinking problems or those diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or mild forms of dementia who are smartphone users age 65 years or older and who are not meeting nationally recommended levels of physical activity. In the clinical trial phase of this study, 15 participant-study partner dyads will be oriented to the app and use it for a two-month period. Dyads will keep a diary to document their experiences and participants' activity patterns will also be tracked at the beginning and end of the study. After the two-month app trial is complete, dyads will return for a follow-up interview to discuss their experiences and provide suggestions for app improvements. Findings from this stage of the overall study will be combined with previous study phases to derive specifications for an optimized app for older people with mild cognitive impairments or mild dementia.

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Nordic Sensi® Chair (NSC) in the management of behavioral symptoms of dementia (BPSD) in real clinical practice in people with dementia admitted to nursing homes. The secondary objective of the present study is to assess its benefits on the performance of the daily work activities of care staff. Although over time the BPSD have been treated predominantly with pharmacological measures, there is now sufficient scientific evidence to support the use of non-pharmacological therapies (NPT) for their management.Within this context, only a few studies have evaluated the use of rocking chairs for people with dementia. Modern rocking chairs may be suitable for long-term care because rocking, a rhythmically repeated movement, can contribute to psychosocial wellbeing . In this regard, it is a focus of attention to consider the therapeutic role of the Nordic Sensi® Chair in the treatment of BPSD based on its ability to offer patients a sensory experience that brings the benefits of music therapy, therapeutic tactile stimulation, vestibular stimulation, and relaxation in an integrated way, especially those in nursing homes. The NSC is an electrically operated rocking chair with built-in MusiCure music. It is equipped with an integrated audio system with music recording. The NSC has three different programs: Relax for deep relaxation, Refresh for recovery and Comfort for gentle relaxation. In addition to musical programming, the NSC provides predefined tactile stimulation and rocking motion, for a relaxing multi-sensory experience. In this study, the 20 minutes NSC deep relaxation program (Relax Program) will be used. Participants are randomly assigned to two groups of equal size: a treatment group that receives three times a week one session per day of 20 minutes in the Relax for deep relaxation program of the NSC and a control group that does not participate in the activity mentioned for the treatment group, but receives, at the same time and duration, the care and activities that are part of the daily routines. Although cognitive and functional symptoms have been the hallmarks of dementia, in recent years behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) have become increasingly important. In all cases, BPSD is always one of the most important challenges that both the patient and their caregivers will face throughout the course of the disease.

Alzheimer's disease and related disorders (ADRD) are diseases whose frequency is increasing in elderly subjects. Their evolution is marked by the occurrence, in addition to cognitive disorders, of increasingly disruptive behavioral disorders that interfere with their management, as well as impairment of basic functions, including the occurrence of sphincter disorders responsible for daytime and nighttime urinary and fecal incontinence. These disorders are present in more than 80% of LAM patients and are of multifactorial origin. It is difficult to get patients to accept wearing the necessary protection. They tend to remove or tear them off. This can frequently lead to stressful situations of agitation and inappropriate behavior for patients and uncomfortable continence management for caregivers. In order not to be forced to use heavy physical restraints or therapeutics that promote drowsiness so that the patient cannot remove his or her protections, the only effective response today is to wear a garment. Unfortunately, the ones that exist today are strictly functional and are worn at night. The use of such garments, during the day, in this indication, is therefore a common and usual practice today. This results in an ethical problem for the caregivers. Indeed, worn during the day, rompers give the impression to the latter that they show a devaluing, infantilizing or even degrading image of the elderly person. This practice, although common and accepted because it is the only recourse to physical and chemical restraints to preserve the cleanliness and presentation of elderly patients, could lead to an impaired dignity which could be badly experienced by their close circle of friends and family as well as by the carers and could also have an impact on the overall effectiveness of the care . This is the first time that a multi-professional team integrating doctors, caregivers, occupational therapists and engineers have reflected on the design of a garment that meets the expectations of caregivers, patients and their families. The romper thus designed must be able to retain the aesthetic characteristics of a garment that meets the tastes of the elderly while respecting their dignity.

This initial four-months pilot study will focus on at least three educational courses (introduction to dementia and lifestyle risk factors, sleep and diet). It may also include a fourth educational course on social connectivity and loneliness. Completion of this initial pilot study will allow for a round of improvements informed by data from the program, on usability, as well as feedback from participants and citizen advisors. This will allow for an iterative process to build the program to its full content, with feedback to optimize the user experience and ensure the accessibility of the content. The information generated from this study will help inform the development of the second program's prototype, expected to benefit from the initial pilot to become more user-friendly, effective and accessible to the target audience. This pilot study will be a longitudinal study of an inception cohort exposed to the HALT-AD online educational program for a four-month study. It will utilize pre- and post- intervention collection of quantitative and qualitative data to evaluate the program's first prototype.

The study has both quantitative and qualitative components. The objective of the quantitative study is: To culturally adapt and refine Montessori activities for people living with dementia in Pakistan. To determine the feasibility and acceptability of culturally-adapted group based Montessori intervention for people with dementia in Pakistan. To build capacity and capability in dementia research (researcher training) The objective of the qualitative study is: To explore views on perceived effectiveness and sustainability of the study.

This study evaluates the effect and process of individualized music therapy for home-dwelling persons with mild to moderate dementia. The music therapy is administered individually and includes a close caregiver. Memory of familiar music is found to be retained in persons with dementia. It is assumed to facilitate autobiographical memories and stimulate interaction with significant others. Based on time series analyses we will use statistical process control to evaluate when and how change occur.

This is a large pragmatic, randomized controlled trial to test the real-world effectiveness of inpatient palliative care consultative services in improving a number of patient- and family-centered processes and outcomes of care among seriously ill hospitalized patients. The investigators hypothesize that improved patient-centered outcomes can be achieved without higher costs by simply changing the default option for inpatient palliative care consultation for eligible patients from an opt-in to an opt-out system. To test this hypothesis the investigators will conduct a clinical trial at 11 hospitals using the same electronic health record within Ascension Health, the largest non-profit health system in the U.S.

In this Phase II SBIR project we will enhance a wireless WiFi-based insole that was designed and successfully tested during a Phase I trial with elderly persons with dementia and their caregivers, and then investigate its efficacy in terms of caregiver activity, burden, and quality of life in Phase II. Evaluation will use semi-structured interviews and participant observation data collected from professional and family caregivers of patients with moderate or mild dementia.

This study is designed to test the hypothesis that an intervention increasing exposure to daylight indoors will reduce depression and other neuropsychiatric symptoms among people living with dementia in long term care facilities.