Jessica Amos

MyCOACH: Connected Advice for Cognitive Health

What is the MyCOACH Trial about?

This research aims to test the effectiveness of an e-learning and behaviour change course designed to support healthy brain ageing and reduce risk of dementia. The course is tailored for people experiencing changes or concerns in thinking, memory or cognition.  The trial runs for 12 weeks, with a follow up 1 year afterwards.

What is involved in this research trial?

Interested volunteers will be asked to complete some eligibility checks to confirm this study is a good match. If you decide to take part you would be placed into one of two groups. To ensure the research is fair and unbiased, the group is chosen randomly – like pulling names from a hat.

• MyCOACH e-learning group: Participants take part in the 12 week online MyCOACH program. This includes e- learning, consultations with a dietician and/or exercise physiologist, and subscription to a brain training app.

• Control group: Participants will receive information about cognitive health and risk factors for dementia. This group is important to be able to measure the effectiveness of the research. At the end of the study, access to the full MyCOACH e-learning course will be provided.

• All participants take part in a few telephone interviews throughout the study with questions about your health. This includes a follow-up at the end of the 12 week period, and 1 year later.

You may be eligible to participate in the MyCOACH Trial if you:

• Have concerns about changes in your memory or thinking OR diagnosed with ‘Mild Cognitive Impairment’
• Are 65 years of age or older

Expressions of interest

If you are interested, or know someone who might be, please register below or contact us directly.

Research Team Contact 

Dinaz Parekh

Email: mycoach@neura.edu.au

Phone: (02) 9399 1815

Self-management and Health Promotion in early-stage dementia with E-learning for carers (SHAPE)

After receiving a diagnosis of dementia it is very important that individuals and families have access to support and advice, to help people regain control, plan for the future and carry on living a life that is meaningful to them.

The ‘SHAPE’ research study is a multi-site trial, working in collaboration with Norway and the UK. This study aims to test a new online training and support group for people in the early stages of dementia and e-leaning programme for care partners.

What does the study involve?

The study will run over 9 months and you (and your care partner) will:

• Need to participate in three telephone assessment interviews, where you will be required to complete a number of questionnaires relating to health and wellbeing.
• Be randomly allocated to either the (a) intervention or (b) control group of the research study.

a) The intervention group: People with dementia will be invited to an online training and support group, comprising of 10 weekly online sessions, each lasting up to 2 hours. Participant will be supported to join the online session using a simple SHAPE study iPad. During the group, people will be supported to develop skills in areas including decision-making, symptom management, healthy habits adapting and coping. Care partners will receive an e-learning program following similar themes with some additional support.

b) The control group: Like with a lot of research studies, some participants will be randomised to the control group, which means they will not receive the intervention from our research team. However, after study completion, both participants and families can receive the e-learning course comprising of the educational material used in the group.

What are the benefits of this study?

We hope that your participation in this study will provide you and your care partner with more information on dementia and strategies to make positive changes to health and wellbeing. Some participants might also benefit from the social aspects of attending an online group session, such as sharing and listening to different strategies to promote living well with dementia. Additionally, the information gained from this research study could positively direct future research as well as influence the support offered to people in the early stages of dementia and their support network. Interested in volunteering?

This study may be suited to you if:

• You have a diagnosis of dementia
• You are 65 and older
• You are comfortable communicating, reading and writing in English
• You have vision and hearing which allow you to engage comfortably in a group setting
• You have a care partner (family member or friend) who is willing to dedicate a small amount of time to the study

Expression of Interest

Contact

For further information about this research study, please contact us on:

Jana Koch (Research Assistant)

E-mail: j.koch@neura.edu.au

Phone: (02) 9399 1116

Jessica Amos (Project Manager)

Email: j.amos@neura.edu.au

Phone: (02) 9399 1853

This research study is funded by The National Health and Medical Research Council. This study has been approved by UNSW human research ethics committee, reference number: HC190440.