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The SOCIAL study aims to examine the social consequences of Alzheimer's dementia.
Social Cognition and Functioning in Alzheimer's Dementia (SOCIAL) study
Impaired social functioning is a core feature of dementia and declines progressively through the disease course, but we do not currently understand the specific causes of this decline and have no effective treatments for social functioning. Social cognitive impairment, particularly impaired theory of mind (meaning inability to understand that other people have other thoughts and conceptualise what those thoughts might be), is a likely major cause of this decline and, if this is established, it could be a target for future interventions which aim to maintain social cognition. We therefore aim to test whether theory of mind impairment, or those in other areas of social cognition, are associated with decline in social functioning in people with mild Alzheimer’s dementia.
Who can participate?
We want to speak to 207 people with mild Alzheimer's dementia and 207 family or friend informants for them, recruited from NHS Memory Clinics and other sources. We are currently recruiting from the following sites and expect to conduct the study between July 2023 and June 2026:
- Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust
- Devon Partnership NHS Trust
- Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
- North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust
- Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
- Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust
- Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
- North East London NHS Foundation Trust
- Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
- Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust
What does the study involve?
At baseline, we will assess social cognition using a detailed neuropsychological battery and will assess social functioning. At 4 and 8 months, participants will remotely rate their social functioning using a questionnaire and the full battery of testing will be repeated at 1 year followup.
In our Remote Monitoring sub-study, up to 50 participants with a mobile phone will have remote digital monitoring using a mobile phone application throughout the study duration.
In our Behavioural Observation sub-study, up to 50 participants will have social behaviour assessed during a video-recorded semi-structured social interaction at baseline and 1 year follow-up.
Study Protocol
Further information about the study including the full study protocol is available on the ISRCTN Registry website: Register number 61917909.
Participant Information Sheets
SOCIAL Behavioural Observation Study
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