-
- Ryan A Mace, Melissa V Gates, Paula J Popok, Ron Kulich, Yakeel T Quiroz, and Ana-Maria Vranceanu.
- Integrated Brain Health Clinical and Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.
- Gerontologist. 2020 Nov 7.
Background And ObjectivesThe relationship between chronic pain (CP) and cognitive decline (CD) is bidirectional among older adults. The CP-CD comorbidity can progressively worsen cognitive, physical, emotional, and social functioning with aging. We explored the feasibility and outcomes associated with two mind-body activity programs for CP and CD that focus on increasing walking using time goals (Active Brains) or step-count reinforced via Fitbit (Active Brains-Fitbit).Research Design And MethodsOlder adults with CP and CD participated in a non-randomized open pilot of Active Brains (n = 6) and Active Brains-Fitbit (n = 6) followed by exit interviews. Quantitative analysis explored feasibility markers and signals of improvement on physical, cognitive, and emotional function, as well as additional program targets. Qualitative analyses were predominantly deductive and applied the Framework Method to enhance the programs and methodology.ResultsBoth programs met a-priori feasibility benchmarks. We found within-group improvements for pain intensity, pain-specific coping, physical function, and cognitive function in both programs. Exit interviews confirmed high satisfaction with both programs.Discussion And ImplicationsOur mixed methods data provide preliminary evidence of feasibility, showed promise for improving outcomes, and yielded critical information to further enhance the programs. We discuss "lessons learned" and future directions.© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Notes
Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
- Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as
*italics*
,_underline_
or**bold**
. - Superscript can be denoted by
<sup>text</sup>
and subscript<sub>text</sub>
. - Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines
1. 2. 3.
, hyphens-
or asterisks*
. - Links can be included with:
[my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
- Images can be included with:

- For footnotes use
[^1](This is a footnote.)
inline. - Or use an inline reference
[^1]
to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document[^1]: This is a long footnote.
.