SAMB-PD
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A smartphone app for studying mood and behaviour in Parkinson’s.
IRAS ID
280529
Contact name
Robb Rutledge
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Joint Research Office, UCL
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Z6364106/2020/03/32, UCL Data Protection Registration number
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The primary aim of this study is to determine how Parkinson’s disease affects behaviour and mood. Participants will be asked to play games contained within a bespoke application or ‘app’. Using computational models, behavioural data will be used to generate participant-specific model parameters that might be related to the dopamine system which is affected in Parkinson’s disease. These parameters include the rate at which participants learn from feedback and the degree to which unexpected outcomes influence mood.
Participants in this study will be linked to an ongoing clinical study: Quantitative MRI for Anatomical Phenotyping in Parkinson’s disease (qMAP-PD) (REC: 18/LO/1229). The primary aim of the qMAP-PD study is to use non-invasive brain-scanning techniques to understand why Parkinson’s disease is so variable, develop ways to predict how quickly the disease will progress based on an individual’s brain structure and diagnose the condition during the pre-clinical phase. Individuals will be scanned using magnetic resonance imaging on two occasions, three years apart.
Using the unique framework of qMAP-PD to recruit participants, we will be able to address our primary aims in a minimally burdensome way. Our app will be available freely on the Google and Apple app stores and we have a separate ethical approval from the UCL Research Ethics Committee to collect data with the app from the general population (Ref: 12365/001). Participants will be assigned a unique ID enabling us to link data from the app to data collected in qMAP-PD. Participants will be asked to play short games within the app at regular intervals, approximately once every week for the first 16 weeks after initial download and then again approximately once every week for 16 weeks after the final scanning session of the qMAP-PD study. This data will allow us to assess how Parkinson’s disease affects behaviour and mood.
REC name
London - Bloomsbury Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/LO/0907
Date of REC Opinion
30 Oct 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion