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Smartphone-based Cognitive Emotion Regulation Training for Unpaid Primary Caregivers of Persons With Alzheimer's Disease

Bryan Denny · with National Institute on Aging (NIA) · NCT05949047

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Opens the official ClinicalTrials.gov record, with the study team’s contacts. Bored Studies doesn’t enroll anyone.

Key facts

Compensation
Not posted. Ask the study team before screening.
Who can join
Ages 18+ · All sexes
Healthy volunteers
Accepted
Study type
Interventional · Not applicable
Target enrollment
270
US sites recruiting
1
Study start
September 14, 2023
Record last updated
May 29, 2026

Status re-checked against ClinicalTrials.gov within the last 12 hours.

What the study is about

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and Alzheimer's Disease-Related Dementias (ADRD) not only exact a heavy toll on patients, they also impose an enormous emotional, physical, and financial burden on unpaid, often family, caregivers. The strain of providing care for a loved one diagnosed with AD, often across several years, is associated with elevated depression risk and poorer overall health. Emotion regulation skills represent an ideal target for psychological intervention to promote healthy coping in ADRD caregivers. The project seeks to use an experimental medicine approach to test the efficacy and biobehavioral mechanisms of a novel, relatively brief, targeted, scalable, smartphone-based cognitive emotion regulation intervention aimed at improving psychological outcomes (i.e., reducing perceived stress, caregiver burden, and depressive symptoms) in ADRD unpaid primary caregivers as well as examine potential benefits of the caregiver intervention on quality of life in care recipients. Cognitive reappraisal is the ability to modify the trajectory of an emotional response by thinking about and appraising emotional information in an alternative, more adaptive way. Reappraisal can be operationalized via two primary tactics: psychological distancing (i.e. appraising an emotional stimulus as an objective, impartial observer) and reinterpretation (i.e., imagining a better outcome than what initially seemed apparent). The project will investigate the efficacy and underlying biobehavioral mechanisms of a novel, one-week cognitive reappraisal intervention in this population, with follow-up assessments at 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 3 months. ADRD unpaid primary caregivers will be randomly assigned to receive training in either distancing, reinterpretation, or a no regulation natural history control condition, with ecological momentary assessments of self-reported positive and negative affect, remotely- collected psychophysiological health-related biomarkers (i.e., heart rate variability data) using pre-mailed Polar H10 chest bands, and health-related questionnaire reports. Distancing training is expected to result in longitudinal reductions in self-reported negative affect, longitudinal increases in positive affect, and longitudinal increases in HRV that are larger than those attributable to reinterpretation training and no-regulation control training.

Being studied: Cognitive Emotion Regulation Training via Psychological Distancing; Cognitive Emotion Regulation Training via Reinterpretation

Conditions: Caregivers; Emotions; Emotion Regulation; Stress; Psychological; Psychophysiology

Eligibility criteria

Copied from the official record. The study team makes the final decision at screening.

Show full criteria

Inclusion Criteria

Healthy Adult Caregivers

  • Unpaid primary caregiver of patient with Alzheimer's Disease/Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (AD/ADRD)
  • At least 18 years of age, with no maximum age, provided that all other inclusion/exclusion criteria are met
  • Must be able to speak, read, and write in English
  • Must be free of any current or past DSM diagnosis (i.e. healthy adults), with the exception of current or past mood or anxiety disorders or past substance-related disorders (i.e., current or past mood or anxiety disorders and/or past substance-related disorders would not represent an exclusion factor)
  • Must have a smartphone. This represents any major iOS or Android-based smartphone. The smartphone will also be used for collection of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data via SurveySignal.
  • Must provide significant level of caregiving to their care recipient
  • Must be at least minimally-stressed

Cognitively Impaired Adults

  • Must have diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease/Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (AD/ADRD)
  • Must be the care recipient of the primary caregiver who is completing the study
  • Must be able to understand and willing to complete a questionnaire and the consent form
  • Must have minimum level of dementia symptoms

Exclusion Criteria

Healthy Adult Caregivers

  • Current or past psychiatric disorders (e.g., psychotic and personality disorders) with the exception of current or past mood or anxiety disorders or past substance-related disorders (i.e., current or past mood or anxiety disorders and/or past substance-related disorders would not represent an exclusion factor)
  • Currently receiving psychotherapy that specifically addresses caregiver burden/distress or employs cognitive reappraisal as a major component
  • Significant visual, auditory, or cognitive impairment that compromises their ability to understand and complete the task
  • Caregiver participants who cease meeting inclusion criteria during the study will be dismissed from the study and compensated pro-rata.
  • Has formerly participated in a study from our lab involving the same or essentially same design (e.g., former participants who provided pilot/preliminary data for this study)

Cognitively Impaired Adults

  • The care recipient does not wish to participate, and/or their caregiver does not want them to participate
  • Significant visual, auditory, or cognitive impairment that compromises their ability to understand and complete questionnaires, even with their caregiver's help will exclude them from the study
  • Has formerly participated in a study from our lab involving the same or essentially same design (e.g., former participants who provided pilot/preliminary data for this study)

Recruiting US locations

  • Rice University

    Houston, TX 77030

    Site contact: Lexi O'Brien, BA · 713-348-8246 · lo25@rice.edu

Study contacts (from the official record)

  • Bryan Denny, Ph.D. · 713-348-8257 · btd3@rice.edu
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Smartphone-based Cognitive Emotion Regulation Training for Unpaid… (NCT05949047) | Bored Studies