External Focus Strategy on Visuomotor Control in Older Adults

NCT06571526 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: HSEARS20210525002
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 112
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Only a few studies have adopted external focus strategy as an intervention to mitigate the negative effects of heightened conscious movement processing in older adults. The goal was to investigate whether a single-session intervention (SSI) using external focus strategy could improve gait stability and visual search behaviors during adaptive locomotion among the older population. Participants were randomly allocated to either an external focus (EXT) or a control group (CON). All participants performed an obstacle circumvention walking task along an 8-m walkway for five trials at pre-intervention (T0), post-intervention (T1), and retention (T2). The training phase included 20 walking trials. EXT focused on digits displayed on monitors at their path destinations, while CON walked naturally without any manipulation.

Conditions

Gait; Fall Risk; Older Adults

Keywords

attentional focus; gait; older adults; visual search

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Gait stability

  Measured by a 3-D motion-capture system. Indicated by the variabilities of temporal and spatial gait parameters

  pre-test, post-test (the same day, immediately after the single-session intervention), 1 week after post-test (retention)

• Visual search behavior

  Measured by eye tracker. Indicated by: number of fixation (%) on ground number of fixation (%) on destination number of fixation (%) on obstacle number of fixation (%) on random areas fixation duration (%) on ground fixation duration (%) on destination fixation duration (%) on obstacle fixation duration (%) on random areas

  pre-test, post-test (the same day, immediately after the single-session intervention), 1 week after post-test (retention)

Study Arms (2)

EXT

EXPERIMENTAL

Behavioral: External focus

CON

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Behavioral: Control

Interventions

External focus BEHAVIORAL

The training phase consisted of 20 consecutive training trials, with a rest interval of at least 30 seconds between trials. All participants had to circumvent an obstacle during each trial on the 8-m level-ground walkway. During each trial, the general instruction was to focus on a random series of digits ranging from 0 to 9 displayed on monitors placed at the immediate and future destinations of the walkway. Each number was displayed for at least 2 seconds to allow participants to have sufficient time to read them.

EXT

Control BEHAVIORAL

The training phase consisted of 20 consecutive training trials, with a rest interval of at least 30 seconds between trials. All participants had to circumvent an obstacle during each trial on the 8-m level-ground walkway. During each trial, the general instruction was to walk to the end of the walkway at your natural pace.

CON

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 65 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• aged 65 or above
• were able to walk independently indoors without walking aids

You may not qualify if:

• a total score of less than 24 on the Chinese version of the Mini-Mental State Examination
• a static visual acuity poorer than 20/40 vision
• the presence of any untreated cerebral vascular disease, Parkinson\'s disease, or any other major neurological deficit

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The Hong Kong Polytechnic University: lead

Study Sites (1)

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Hong Kong, 000, Hong Kong

Location

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 21, 2024
• First Posted: August 26, 2024
• Study Start: October 1, 2021
• Primary Completion: June 30, 2023
• Study Completion: June 30, 2023
• Last Updated: August 26, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-08

Locations

HK (1)