Cognitive Stimulation Therapy for people with ID and dementia

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Cognitive Stimulation Therapy for people with Intellectual Disabilities and Dementia (CST-IDD). A mixed methods feasibility study.

  • IRAS ID

    306756

  • Contact name

    Aimee Spector

  • Contact email

    a.spector@ucl.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    North East London Foundation Trust

  • ISRCTN Number

    ISRCTN88614460

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    2 years, 8 months, 31 days

  • Research summary

    This study aims to find if group Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) is feasible and acceptable to an intellectual Disabilities (ID) population. CST is a widely used, non-pharmacological, evidenced based treatment for people with Dementia and is found to slow the progress of dementia and improve quality of life. As the groups have not been trialled with ID populations, it is not evidence based for this group of people and therefore not routinely provided as a treatment for those with ID who develop dementia. Therefore this feasibility study will recruit people with Mild to moderate ID in order to run a randomised trial over multiple NHS sites, to find if it would be feasible to run the CST groups with this population and to ascertain if a larger CST trial would be feasible in order to run larger trials and develop an evidence base for people with co-morbid ID and Dementia.

    Fifty individuals with ID will be randomised to either the intervention group or control group (treatment as usual). Randomisation will occur after informed consent has been given and baseline assessments completed. Each arm will have 25 participants and be divided into five CST groups with 5 participants in each.
    To measure the outcomes of the trial the participants and their carers will be asked to complete some questionnaires and assessments before and after the intervention period. These will include an assessment of cognitive functioning, adaptive functioning and quality of life in individuals with dementia and will also assess the feasibility of collecting the cost-effectiveness measures. There will also be interviews with participants, staff and carers to identify aspects of the intervention and study which they felt were beneficial and what could be changed in future trials.

  • REC name

    East of England - Essex Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    21/EE/0247

  • Date of REC Opinion

    19 Jan 2022

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion