There is an evidence gap on whether meditation may improve behaviorally measured attention after stroke, but preliminary research is promising. This study is the first-ever investigation of whether mantra meditation may improve chronic, severe impairment in attention after stroke.
The study is non-concurrent, multiple-baseline, across-subjects, single-case research design (SCRD). The central hypothesis is that mantra meditation (independent variable) will be associated with improvement on 1 or more tests of behaviorally measured sustained attention (dependent variable). The mantra in this study is the syllable "um" and is not assigned any spiritual, religious, or affective meaning. The mantra is repeated aloud together by the subject and the PI for a duration of 30 minutes in each session. This procedure constitutes meditation for the purposes of this study. There are 9 session of meditation (3 times per week for 3 weeks). Attention is measured in each of these sessions as well as in 3 separate testing sessions that precede the intervention period.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
3
see study description
University of Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky, United States
Sustained Attention to Response Task, Fixed Version
SARTfixed is in the class of attention tests called continuous performance tests, a class which has a long history of use to measure sustained attention (Shaleva, Ben-Simon, Mevorachc, Cohen, \& Tsald, 2011). SARTfixed is a 5-minute computerized test based on the standard version of the SART, which was developed to measure sustained attention in subjects with right-hemisphere acquired brain lesions (Robertson, Manly, Andrade, Baddeley, \& Yiend,1997b). Manly and colleagues (2003) demonstrated that in subjects with neurological impairment, SARTfixed was a more pure measurement of sustained attention than standard SART. SARTfixed also had comparatively more likelihood than standard SART for accurately discriminating between healthy volunteers and individuals with neurological impairment.
Time frame: through study completion; average of 4 weeks
Trail-Making Test (TMT)
• TMT is a 5-minute pencil-and-paper test that has been extensively used as a measure of executive function as well as a measure of attention in a study of meditation to improve attention after stroke (Johansson, Bjuhr, \& Rönnbäck, 2012).
Time frame: through study completion; average of 4 weeks
Cognitive Failures Questionnaire
• CFQ is a 25-item pencil-and-paper questionnaire that uses a self-report scale 1-5 on which subjects identify difficulty in everyday cognitive functioning. CFQ measures 4 cognitive constructs (Distractibility, Memory, Blunders and Naming) and has been used in research, as well as clinically, to measure sustained attention after stroke (Shalev, Humphreys, \& Demeyere, 2016).
Time frame: through study completion; average of 4 weeks
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