Loneliness clinical trials at University of California Health
3 in progress, 2 open to eligible people
Evaluating a Single-Session Intervention for Loneliness
open to eligible people ages 16 years and up
The goal of this study is to examine the efficacy of an online single-session intervention (SSI) for loneliness. It aims to answer is if a 20-30 minute online SSI based on an evidence-based internet cognitive behavioral therapy can reduce feelings of loneliness among lonely people. type of study: clinical trial participant population/health conditions: English-speakers aged 16 and older with access to internet and a computer, smartphone, or tablet who meet our criteria for struggling with loneliness. Researchers will compare a 30-minute digital loneliness SSI to a 3-week loneliness digital mental health intervention (DMHI) and a control SSI in their efficacy in reducing loneliness.
at UC Irvine
Rural Dementia Caregiver Project
open to eligible people ages 18 years and up
These caregivers are a vulnerable group due to their physical isolation and well-documented rural disparities in health care access and quality. Many rural dementia caregivers experience serious health consequences due to caregiving responsibilities that can limit their ability to maintain their caregiving role. Thus, there is a pressing need for effective, scalable, and accessible programs to support rural dementia caregivers. Online programs offer a convenient and readily translatable option for program delivery because they can be accessed by caregivers in the home and at the convenience of the user. Building Better Caregivers is an online 6-week, interactive, small-group self-management, social support, and skills-building workshop developed for caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's disease or related dementia. The investigators will conduct a hybrid effectiveness-implementation randomized controlled trial that will enroll and randomize 640 rural dementia caregivers into two groups: the intervention (workshop) group and the attention control group. Caregivers will be recruited throughout the United States. Primary outcomes will be caregiver stress and depression symptoms. The investigators hypothesize that stress scores and depression symptoms will be significantly improved at 12 months in the intervention group versus control group. The investigators will also identify key strengths (facilitators) and weaknesses (barriers) of workshop implementation. The investigators will use the RE-AIM implementation framework and a mixed methods approach to identify implementation characteristics pertinent to both caregivers and rural community organizations. If the Building Better Caregivers workshop is proven to be effective, this research has the potential to open new research horizons, particularly on how to reach and effectively support isolated dementia caregivers in rural areas with an intervention that is scalable, even in low-resourced settings. If the workshop can achieve its goals with rural dementia caregivers, some of those most isolated, it would also be expected to be scalable in other low-resourced settings (e.g., in urban or suburban environments).
at UCSF
Dynamic Neural Systems Underlying Social-emotional Functions in Older Adults
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Assess the impact of a remote, app-delivered intervention on emotional well-being of lonely older adults. Neuroimaging and autonomic physiology will be used to assess the neural correlates of the intervention.
at UCSF
Our lead scientists for Loneliness research studies include Veronica Yank, MD Lorenzo Pasquini, PhD.
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