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Improving Cognition of Older Adults in Community Housing

Aging | Mental Disorder

The I-COACH study will focus on seniors with mental health conditions who are living in senior community housing. This initiative proposes to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a 12-week integrated program of cognitive remediation (CR) in combination with social and physical activity using an open-label design. The program will be provided over three iterative groups of six participants each, with one Personal Support Worker (PSW). The program will be co-designed at a granular level in an iterative process, drawing upon feedback provided by each participant group, PSW, and community housing staff to improve the user experience.

We will build the capacity for community personal support workers (PSWs) to deliver this program independently and with fidelity to the intervention model. Our ultimate goal is to help seniors continue to live as long as possible in their homes within the community.

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Participation Requirements

  • Sex:

    ALL

  • Eligible Ages:

    50 and up

Participation Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Age 50 years and above. The rationale of age cutoff of 50 is that this age is considered a typical geriatric age cutoff especially for people with severe mental illness
2. Any race or ethnicity
3. Any gender identity
4. Meets DSM-V criteria for any disorder
5. Clinically stable as operationalized by (1) having not been admitted to a psychiatric hospital within the 3 months prior to assessment, (2) having had no change in psychotropic medication dosage within the 4 weeks prior to assessment, and (3) ascertained to be clinically and medically stable by one the study psychiatrists.
6. Willingness and ability to speak English
7. Willingness to provide informed consent or assent as applicable.
8. Corrected visual ability that enables reading of newspaper headlines and corrected hearing capacity that is adequate to respond to a raised conversational voice. Both vision and hearing ability will be assessed by asking the participant if they can see the text and hear the research personnel during the screening consent and enrolment process.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Meets diagnostic criteria for active substance use or dependence within the 6 months prior to the initial assessment except for caffeine or nicotine
2. Has profound cognitive impairment that, in the opinion of the PI, precludes benefit from CR and therefore study participation.

Study Location

Center for Addiction and Mental Health
Center for Addiction and Mental Health
Toronto, Ontario
Canada

Contact Study Team

Backup Contact

Dewi Clark, MHSc

[email protected]
4165358501
Primary Contact

Angela Golas, MD

[email protected]
4165358501
Study Sponsored By
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Participants Required
More Information
Study ID: NCT05932342