Meditation Strategies, Attention, and Mobility in Older Adults

NCT03417635 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 110598
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 43
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Approximately 30% of community-dwelling older adults experience one or more falls per year, resulting in injuries, loss of independence, and reduced quality of life. While there are known physiological risk factors for falls, including poor balance and altered gait patterns, it is now recognized that impaired cognitive functioning is also a risk factor for falls. Within the broad construct of cognition, one specific domain that has been focused on in the falls literature is attention. The literature suggests that improving attention in those at-risk for falls may reduce older adult's risk of falling.

Conditions

Mobility Limitation

Keywords

Meditation; Cognitive assessment; Executive function; Older adults; Randomized control trial; Mobility

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change in sustained attention

  Measured by performance on sustained attention task.

  4 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (7)

• Change in global attention

  4 weeks

• Change in mobility

  4 weeks

• Change in mobility and balance

  4 weeks

• Change in memory

  4 weeks

• Change in conflict resolution

  4 weeks

Study Arms (2)

Guided focused attention

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will take part in a guided focused attention practice led by the researcher. This will include strategies used in meditations where participants focus on their breathing. More specifically, they will be instructed to close their eyes and focus on the sensation of breathing in one area of the body for the entire session. They will be given reminders throughout the session to remain on task (focusing on the breath) and not to let their thoughts wander. Participants will be asked to either sit on a chair or cushion on floor to ensure they are comfortable to sit still for the session, but not so much that they might fall asleep.

Behavioral: Guided focused attention

Acoustic music

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants will be instructed to listen to a prepared soothing acoustic music track. The sessions will be led by a researcher. Participants will be asked to close their eyes and relax while listening to the music. Participants will be asked to sit on a chair or cushion on floor to ensure they are comfortable to sit still for the session, but not so much they might fall asleep This group is used as active control group to control for socialization in group settings and any effects of consciously relaxing for the meetings.

Behavioral: Acoustic music

Interventions

Guided focused attention BEHAVIORAL

Participants will meet for 20 minute group sessions with 6-10 participants in each group. There will be three meetings a week for a four week period. The focused attention practice itself will last for 20 minutes with instructions being given during the 20 minute period. All sessions will occur in the retirement home in a community room to ensure the sessions are easily accessible to the participants.

Guided focused attention

Acoustic music BEHAVIORAL

Participants will meet for 20 minute group sessions with 6-10 participants in each group. There will be three meetings a week for a four week period. The acoustic music track itself will last for 20 minutes with instructions being given during the 20 minute period. All sessions will occur in the retirement home in a community room to ensure the sessions are easily accessible to the participants.

Acoustic music

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 60 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• minimum 60 years of age,
• minimum completed high school,
• must be comfortable writing and reading English,
• be able to walk independently,
• must be right-handed (for EEG analysis),
• score 6+/8 on the instrumental activities of daily living scale,
• score \>24/30 on the Mini-Mental Status examination.

You may not qualify if:

• To be included, participants must NOT:
• have a diagnosis of neurodegenerative disease,
• have a diagnosis of cognitive impairment (e.g., MCI),
• have a diagnosis of a psychiatric condition,
• have had a concussion in the last 12 months,
• have had a stroke,
• have musculoskeletal or joint disease,
• experience dizziness or loss of balance,
• have visual, auditory, or somatosensory impairment, or
• a recent history (past 2 years) of regular meditation practice (1 or more times per week) or include a meditation component in their religious practice.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Western University, Canada: lead

Study Sites (1)

Community

London, Ontario, Canada

Location

Related Publications (9)

• Martin K, Thomson R, Blizzard L, Wood A, Garry M, Srikanth V. Visuospatial ability and memory are associated with falls risk in older people: a population-based study. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord. 2009;27(5):451-7. doi: 10.1159/000216840. Epub 2009 May 7.

  PMID: 19420939 BACKGROUND

• Nagamatsu LS, Liu-Ambrose TY, Carolan P, Handy TC. Are impairments in visual-spatial attention a critical factor for increased falls risk in seniors? An event-related potential study. Neuropsychologia. 2009 Nov;47(13):2749-55. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.05.022. Epub 2009 Jun 6.

  PMID: 19501605 BACKGROUND

• Nagamatsu LS, Munkacsy M, Liu-Ambrose T, Handy TC. Altered visual-spatial attention to task-irrelevant information is associated with falls risk in older adults. Neuropsychologia. 2013 Dec;51(14):3025-32. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.10.002.

  PMID: 24436970 BACKGROUND

• Wallace, B. A. (2006). The attention revolution: Unlocking the power of the focused mind. Somerville, Massachusetts: Wisdom Publications, Inc.

  BACKGROUND

• Ainsworth B, Eddershaw R, Meron D, Baldwin DS, Garner M. The effect of focused attention and open monitoring meditation on attention network function in healthy volunteers. Psychiatry Res. 2013 Dec 30;210(3):1226-31. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2013.09.002. Epub 2013 Oct 14.

  PMID: 24135553 BACKGROUND

• Tsai MH, Chou WL. Attentional orienting and executive control are affected by different types of meditation practice. Conscious Cogn. 2016 Nov;46:110-126. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2016.09.020. Epub 2016 Oct 3.

  PMID: 27710818 BACKGROUND

• Drahota A, Udell JE, Mackenzie H, Pugh MT. Psychological and educational interventions for preventing falls in older people living in the community. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2024 Oct 3;10(10):CD013480. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD013480.pub2.

  PMID: 39360568 DERIVED

• Ford SD, Nagamatsu LS. Four weeks of meditation training improves sustained attention in community-dwelling older adults: a proof-of-concept randomized controlled trial. Front Aging. 2024 Mar 1;5:1322705. doi: 10.3389/fragi.2024.1322705. eCollection 2024.

  PMID: 38496316 DERIVED

• Nagamatsu LS, Ford SD. Can meditation improve attention in older adults? Study protocol for a 4-week proof-of-concept intervention. Pilot Feasibility Stud. 2019 Feb 11;5:22. doi: 10.1186/s40814-019-0413-x. eCollection 2019.

  PMID: 30788136 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Mobility Limitation

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Study Officials

• Lindsay S Nagamatsu, PhD

  Western University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 12, 2018
• First Posted: January 31, 2018
• Study Start: January 2, 2019
• Primary Completion: August 31, 2019
• Study Completion: August 31, 2019
• Last Updated: December 5, 2023

Record last verified: 2023-12

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

CA (1)