DementiaNCT03741543
Learning and Coping With Early Stage Dementia
A study testing A 12-week health promotion course in people with Dementia and Alzheimer Disease, run by Helse Stavanger HF.
Trial summary
The overall aim of this study is to investigate how home dwelling people with early-stage dementia cope with their disease, explored through their participation in a 12-week health promotion course, through 3 sub-studies; 1) The users' experience in gaining information about dementia and meeting others in the same… Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 65 years and older
- Conditions the study is for
- Dementia, Alzheimer Disease, Vascular Dementia
- What is being tested?
- A 12-week health promotion course
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 108 participants
- Where
- No sites listed yet
- Study dates
- 3 Mar 2014to 31 Dec 2024
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 65 years and older
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Older adult
Who may be able to join
- 65 years of age or older
- A diagnosis of early or moderate stage dementia
- Capable of reading and writing
- Hearing and vision which are sufficiently good to work in a group setting
- Proficient in the language in which the course is provided
Who cannot join
- A diagnosis of alcohol abuse
- A limited life expectancy due to any terminal disease or other serious illness
- Chemotherapy or radiation treatment ongoing at enrolment
- Head injuries
- Epilepsy
- Parkinson's disease
Show all 9Show fewer
- A history of psychiatric illness
- A history of a diagnosis of subnormal intelligence
- Prior participation in health promotion or cognitive training programs
About this study
Official title: Learning and Coping With Dementia - User Experiences From an Educative Intervention in Early Stage Dementia
The overall aim of this study is to investigate how home dwelling people with early-stage dementia cope with their disease, explored through their participation in a 12-week health promotion course, through 3 sub-studies; 1) The users' experience in gaining information about dementia and meeting others in the same situation, 2) observation of the group interactions and support processes, and 3) investigate the effect of the 12-week health promotion course for people with early stage dementia on their cognitive function, psychosocial function and health behaviour.
Read the detailed description
In this study, the investigators build on a health promotion intervention originally developed by Buettner and Fitzimmons (2009), called "Health Promotion for the Mind, Body, and Spirit". The Health Promotion intervention consists of 12 weekly 2-hour sessions. Each group has up to 6 participants, and the groups are facilitated by two professional group leaders. The course has been designed to provide information on the disease process and on healthy behaviours to prevent problems that are common later in the disease. The 12-week course includes nutrition, cognitive fitness, stress reduction, communication, information about the course of the disease, and coping strategies. During the first class session, each participant received a nametag and a booklet. This booklet is a critical component of the educational method for the participants. The booklet contains 12 dividers for the 12 modules that the instructor taught during the course. The caregiver is not present at the course, however the participants are encouraged to share the booklet provided at the course with the caregiver between sessions.
Design: a quasi-experimental study with multiple methods:
- assessment of cognitive function, psychosocial function and health behaviour is collected at baseline (prior to attending the 12-week course) and follow-up interviews are arranged shortly after the 12-week course. For each participant a caregiver also has to take part for proxy interviews.
- the users' experience of attending the 12-week health promotion course will be collected through qualitative individual interviews with the participants and their caregiver after attending the course.
- over the duration of the course a moderate participant observation will be carried out to explore changes over the 12-week course, in-session behaviour, social interaction and to capture motivational and empowering aspects of the course.
- Conditions
- Dementia, Alzheimer Disease, Vascular Dementia
- Being tested
- A 12-week health promotion course
- Keywords
- health promotion, early-stage dementia, psychosocial
- Medical subject headings
- Dementia, Alzheimer Disease, Dementia, Vascular
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
A 12-week health promotion courseOther
Also called Psychosocial intervention, group based
The Health Promotion intervention consists of 12 weekly 2-hour sessions with a group of up to six participants and two course facilitators. Teaching methods includes lecture, questions- and answer periods, and interactive hands-on learning. During the class sessions, the facilitators encourages the participants to ask questions and make comments about the lecture at any time. During the first class session, each participant receives a booklet with the course material.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| A 12-week health promotion course | Other | The Health Promotion intervention consists of 12 weekly 2-hour sessions with a group of up to six participants and two course facilitators. Teaching methods includes lecture, questions- and answer periods, and interactive hands-on learning. During the class sessions, the facilitators encourages the participants to ask questions and make comments about the lecture at any time. During the first class session, each participant receives a booklet with the course material Receives: Other: A 12-week health promotion course |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
The users experiences from an educative intervention in early-stage dementia
Qualitative data will be collected through semi-structured individual interviews with both participants and their caregiver (proxy), and through moderate participant observations following the participants over the duration of the 12-week course. The interview guide and observational protocol consist of pre-selected topics, including (1) communication, (2) participant engagement, (3) social interaction within the group, (4) peer support (5) change in perception of living with dementia and (6) educational outcome. The qualitative data will be explored using content analysis.
Measured: Baseline, 3 months
Secondary outcomes (7)
Change in cognitive function
Measured by The Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE)
Measured: Baseline, 3 months
Change in depressive symptoms
Depressive symptoms will be measured by the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD) (Alexopoulos et al., 1988).The CSDD is an assessment of signs and symptoms of depression in people with dementia. Each item is rated for severity on a scale of 0-2 (0=absent, 1=mild or intermittent, 2=severe). Sum score above 10 indicate a probable major depression. Scores above 18 indicate a definite major depression. Scores below 6 are associated with absence of significant depressive symptoms.
Measured: Baseline, 3 months
Change in self-rated health
Self-rated health will be measured by The EuroQol visual analogue scale (VAS) (The EuroQol group, 1990). The EQ VAS measures the participants self-rated Health-Related Quality of Life on a vertical, visual analogue scale, form 0-100. Where 0 presents "worst imaginable health state" and 100 represents "best-imagined health state".
Measured: Baseline, 3 months
Change in managing personal activities of daily life
The levels of personal functioning in daily life will be measured by Lawton and Brody's Physical Self-Maintenance Scale. The sum-score is based on six items (range 0-30), with higher scores indicating a lower function.
Measured: Baseline, 3 months
Change in managing instrumental activities of daily life
The levels of instrumental functioning in daily life will be measured by Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (I-ADL) (Lawton et al, 1969). The I-ADL sum-score is based on eight items (range 0-31), with higher scores indicating a lower function.
Measured: Baseline, 3 months
Change in neuropsychiatric symptoms
Neuropsychiatric symptoms will be assessed using The Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) (Cummings, et al., 1994), a 12-item questionnaire developed to assess behavioural disturbances in people with dementia. Scores are entered for the frequency and degree of seriousness of each symptom over the last four weeks, and subsequently multiplied into a symptom score. The total possible maximum score is 144. A higher score reflects increased frequency and severity of the disturbances.
Measured: Baseline, 3 months
Change in carer stress/burden
To measure caregiver burden the Relative Stress Scale (RSS), will be used. RSS assesses the caregiver burden for people caring for individuals with dementia. The RSS has 15 different questions, each scored 0-4 (0=never/not at all, 1=rarely/a little, =sometimes/moderately, 3=frequently/quite a lot, 4=always/considerably perceived burden), with a total score range of 0-60. Higher scores reflect a higher reported caregiver burden.
Measured: Baseline, 3 months
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted15 Nov 2018
- Study start3 Mar 2014
- Primary completion28 Feb 2019
- Study completion31 Dec 2024
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (9)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for DementiaStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Supportive care
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Model description
- a 12-week health promotion course
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 108 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Helse Stavanger HF
- Sponsor type
- Other government
- Collaborators
- The Dam Foundation, The National Association for Public Health, Norway
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Ingelin Testad, PhD, Principal investigator, Helse Stavanger
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT03741543
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- sus2018mk01
- Status last verified
- May 2025
- First submitted
- 6 Nov 2018
- Last updated
- 14 May 2025
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Publications
Buettner LL, Fitzsimmons S. Promoting health in early-stage dementia: evaluation of a 12-week course. J Gerontol Nurs. 2009 Mar;35(3):39-49. doi: 10.3928/00989134-20090301-02.
PubMed 19326828Alexopoulos GS, Abrams RC, Young RC, Shamoian CA. Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia. Biol Psychiatry. 1988 Feb 1;23(3):271-84. doi: 10.1016/0006-3223(88)90038-8.
PubMed 3337862Lawton MP, Brody EM. Assessment of older people: self-maintaining and instrumental activities of daily living. Gerontologist. 1969 Autumn;9(3):179-86. No abstract available.
PubMed 5349366EuroQol Group. EuroQol--a new facility for the measurement of health-related quality of life. Health Policy. 1990 Dec;16(3):199-208. doi: 10.1016/0168-8510(90)90421-9.
PubMed 10109801Cummings JL, Mega M, Gray K, Rosenberg-Thompson S, Carusi DA, Gornbein J. The Neuropsychiatric Inventory: comprehensive assessment of psychopathology in dementia. Neurology. 1994 Dec;44(12):2308-14. doi: 10.1212/wnl.44.12.2308.
PubMed 7991117Testad I, Kajander M, Gjestsen MT, Dalen I. Health promotion intervention for people with early-stage dementia: A quasi-experimental study. Brain Behav. 2020 Dec;10(12):e01888. doi: 10.1002/brb3.1888. Epub 2020 Oct 16.
PubMed 33064358Kajander, M., Gjestsen, M. T., Vagle, V., Meling, M., Henriksen, A. T., & Testad, I. (2022). Health promotion in early-stage dementia-user experiences from an educative intervention. Educational Gerontology, 48(9), 391-403.
Kajander M, Gjestsen MT, Ballard C, Naess H, Testad I. Health Promotion in Early-Stage Dementia: A Focused Ethnographic Study of a 12-Week Group-Based Educational Intervention. SAGE Open Nurs. 2024 Jul 25;10:23779608241266686. doi: 10.1177/23779608241266686. eCollection 2024 Jan-Dec.
PubMed 39070007Kajander M, Gjestsen M T, Ballard C, Naess H, Tovar-Rios D A, Fossey J, Testad I. Health promotion in early-stage dementia: Exploring associations between sociodemographic characteristics and outcomes of a 12-week group-based educational intervention. Educational Gerontology. 2024; 1-14. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/03601277.2024.2358620
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 14 May 2025. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Learning and Coping With Dementia - User Experiences From an Educative Intervention in Early Stage Dementia
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT03741543
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- sus2018mk01
- Conditions
- Dementia, Alzheimer Disease, Vascular Dementia
- Keywords
- health promotion, early-stage dementia, psychosocial
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 108 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Helse Stavanger HFOther government
- Collaborators
- The Dam Foundation, The National Association for Public Health, Norway
- Study start
- 3 Mar 2014 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 28 Feb 2019 (actual)
- Study completion
- 31 Dec 2024 (actual)
- First posted
- 15 Nov 2018 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The overall aim of this study is to investigate how home dwelling people with early-stage dementia cope with their disease, explored through their participation in a 12-week health promotion course, through 3 sub-studies; 1) The users' experience in gaining information about dementia and meeting others in the same situation, 2) observation of the group interactions and support processes, and 3) investigate the effect of the 12-week health promotion course for people with early stage dementia on their cognitive function, psychosocial function and health behaviour.
Detailed description
In this study, the investigators build on a health promotion intervention originally developed by Buettner and Fitzimmons (2009), called "Health Promotion for the Mind, Body, and Spirit". The Health Promotion intervention consists of 12 weekly 2-hour sessions. Each group has up to 6 participants, and the groups are facilitated by two professional group leaders. The course has been designed to provide information on the disease process and on healthy behaviours to prevent problems that are common later in the disease. The 12-week course includes nutrition, cognitive fitness, stress reduction, communication, information about the course of the disease, and coping strategies. During the first class session, each participant received a nametag and a booklet. This booklet is a critical component of the educational method for the participants. The booklet contains 12 dividers for the 12 modules that the instructor taught during the course. The caregiver is not present at the course, however the participants are encouraged to share the booklet provided at the course with the caregiver between sessions.
Design: a quasi-experimental study with multiple methods:
- assessment of cognitive function, psychosocial function and health behaviour is collected at baseline (prior to attending the 12-week course) and follow-up interviews are arranged shortly after the 12-week course. For each participant a caregiver also has to take part for proxy interviews.
- the users' experience of attending the 12-week health promotion course will be collected through qualitative individual interviews with the participants and their caregiver after attending the course.
- over the duration of the course a moderate participant observation will be carried out to explore changes over the 12-week course, in-session behaviour, social interaction and to capture motivational and empowering aspects of the course.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Supportive care
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 1
- Model description
- a 12-week health promotion course
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| A 12-week health promotion course | Other | Other: A 12-week health promotion courseThe Health Promotion intervention consists of 12 weekly 2-hour sessions with a group of up to six participants and two course facilitators. Teaching methods includes lecture, questions- and answer periods, and interactive hands-on learning. During the class sessions, the facilitators encourages the participants to ask questions and make comments about the lecture at any time. During the first class session, each participant receives a booklet with the course material |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 65 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (5 listed)
- 65 years of age or older
- A diagnosis of early or moderate stage dementia
- Capable of reading and writing
- Hearing and vision which are sufficiently good to work in a group setting
- Proficient in the language in which the course is provided
Key exclusion criteria (9 listed)
- A diagnosis of alcohol abuse
- A limited life expectancy due to any terminal disease or other serious illness
- Chemotherapy or radiation treatment ongoing at enrolment
- Head injuries
- Epilepsy
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| A 12-week health promotion courseAlso: Psychosocial intervention, group basedThe Health Promotion intervention consists of 12 weekly 2-hour sessions with a group of up to six participants and two course facilitators. Teaching methods includes lecture, questions- and answer periods, and interactive hands-on learning. During the class sessions, the facilitators encourages the participants to ask questions and make comments about the lecture at any time. During the first class session, each participant receives a booklet with the course material. | Other | A 12-week health promotion course |
Primary outcome
The users experiences from an educative intervention in early-stage dementia
Time frame: Baseline, 3 months
Qualitative data will be collected through semi-structured individual interviews with both participants and their caregiver (proxy), and through moderate participant observations following the participants over the duration of the 12-week course. The interview guide and observational protocol consist of pre-selected topics, including (1) communication, (2) participant engagement, (3) social interaction within the group, (4) peer support (5) change in perception of living with dementia and (6) educational outcome. The qualitative data will be explored using content analysis.
7 secondary outcomes
Change in cognitive function
Time frame: Baseline, 3 months
Change in depressive symptoms
Time frame: Baseline, 3 months
Change in self-rated health
Time frame: Baseline, 3 months
Change in managing personal activities of daily life
Time frame: Baseline, 3 months
Change in managing instrumental activities of daily life
Time frame: Baseline, 3 months
Change in neuropsychiatric symptoms
Time frame: Baseline, 3 months
Change in carer stress/burden
Time frame: Baseline, 3 months
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 14 May 2025.
- Background: PubMed 19326828Buettner LL, Fitzsimmons S. Promoting health in early-stage dementia: evaluation of a 12-week course. J Gerontol Nurs. 2009 Mar;35(3):39-49. doi: 10.3928/00989134-20090301-02.
- Background: PubMed 3337862Alexopoulos GS, Abrams RC, Young RC, Shamoian CA. Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia. Biol Psychiatry. 1988 Feb 1;23(3):271-84. doi: 10.1016/0006-3223(88)90038-8.
- Background: PubMed 5349366Lawton MP, Brody EM. Assessment of older people: self-maintaining and instrumental activities of daily living. Gerontologist. 1969 Autumn;9(3):179-86. No abstract available.
- Background: PubMed 10109801EuroQol Group. EuroQol--a new facility for the measurement of health-related quality of life. Health Policy. 1990 Dec;16(3):199-208. doi: 10.1016/0168-8510(90)90421-9.
- Background: PubMed 7991117Cummings JL, Mega M, Gray K, Rosenberg-Thompson S, Carusi DA, Gornbein J. The Neuropsychiatric Inventory: comprehensive assessment of psychopathology in dementia. Neurology. 1994 Dec;44(12):2308-14. doi: 10.1212/wnl.44.12.2308.
- Results publication: PubMed 33064358Testad I, Kajander M, Gjestsen MT, Dalen I. Health promotion intervention for people with early-stage dementia: A quasi-experimental study. Brain Behav. 2020 Dec;10(12):e01888. doi: 10.1002/brb3.1888. Epub 2020 Oct 16.
- Results publicationKajander, M., Gjestsen, M. T., Vagle, V., Meling, M., Henriksen, A. T., & Testad, I. (2022). Health promotion in early-stage dementia-user experiences from an educative intervention. Educational Gerontology, 48(9), 391-403.
- Results publication: PubMed 39070007Kajander M, Gjestsen MT, Ballard C, Naess H, Testad I. Health Promotion in Early-Stage Dementia: A Focused Ethnographic Study of a 12-Week Group-Based Educational Intervention. SAGE Open Nurs. 2024 Jul 25;10:23779608241266686. doi: 10.1177/23779608241266686. eCollection 2024 Jan-Dec.
- Results publicationKajander M, Gjestsen M T, Ballard C, Naess H, Tovar-Rios D A, Fossey J, Testad I. Health promotion in early-stage dementia: Exploring associations between sociodemographic characteristics and outcomes of a 12-week group-based educational intervention. Educational Gerontology. 2024; 1-14. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/03601277.2024.2358620
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Ingelin Testad, PhD principal investigator
Helse Stavanger
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing A 12-week health promotion course in people with Dementia and Alzheimer Disease, run by Helse Stavanger HF.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 5 inclusion and 9 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 14 May 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
The users experiences from an educative intervention in early-stage dementia (time frame: Baseline, 3 months). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT03741543, which also lists 9 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 14 May 2025.