Serious Game-based Interventions in Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment Outside the Clinic

Towards the Development of a Mobile-health Technology Designed to Encourage the Use of Serious Game-based Interventions in Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment Outside the Clinic

This study will evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of Neuro-World cognitive training games (Woorisoft, S. Korea) in patients with mild cognitive impairment.

This study will be a cross-over randomized controlled trial.

Fifty participants will be enrolled and randomly assigned to group A or group B.

Group A will self-administer Neuro-World cognitive training games for 30 minutes a day, twice a week for 12 weeks in the home setting (i.e., intervention period). For the following 12 weeks, the participants will not engage in any therapist-supervised cognitive therapies (i.e., no-intervention period).

Group B will not engage in any therapist-supervised cognitive therapies (i.e., no-intervention period). For the following 12 weeks, the participants will self-administer Neuro-World cognitive training games for 30 minutes a day, twice a week in the home setting (i.e., intervention period).

All the participants in both groups will receive phone calls twice a week to 1) provide feedback on their adherence to Neuro-World cognitive training (during the intervention period) and 2) learn any significant changes in the level of their daily activities (during the no-intervention period and the intervention period).

Inclusion Criteria:

• Seventeen points or greater and smaller than twenty-six points on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)
• Fifty-five years old and above
• Minimal technological literacy (i.e. ability to use a tablet independently)
• Having a computer for online videoconferencing-based communication (necessary for online cognitive assessments)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Confounding neurological and psychiatric disorders
• History of traumatic brain injury
• Clinically known hearing or vision impairment
• Severe upper-limb motor impairments that could impact the use of mobile devices
• Clinical presentations suggestive of dementia with Lewy bodies, progressive supranuclear palsy, multiple system atrophy, or vascular parkinsonism
• Diagnosis of dementia
• Major depression
• Any significant upper-limb impairment that could affect tablet use
• Participation in any other therapist-supervised cognitive training