A Metacognitive Strategy Intervention for People With Parkinson's Disease: Pilot and Feasibility Trial.
Erin R Foster, Tasha Doty, Meghan C Campbell and 2 others
PMID 40827856WHAT IT FOUND
In a pilot trial of 50 people with Parkinson's, a metacognitive strategy approach produced larger gains in self-rated daily cognitive goals than a task-practice control, though both groups improved.
The trial was feasible, safe, and well received.
Key findings
01Both groups improved in self-rated functional cognitive goal performance, but the metacognitive group's gain (mean change 2.7) exceeded the control group's (mean change 1.4), with a significant between-group difference at postintervention (p < .001).
02The trial enrolled the targeted 60 participants over 20 months of recruitment and retained 83% of them for the primary outcome.
03Due to pandemic-related staffing restrictions, 30 participants were assigned to groups based on therapist availability rather than randomization, which the authors note could have introduced imbalances in group characteristics.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Thirty of the 60 participants were assigned to a group by therapist availability rather than randomization, so the groups may differ in ways beyond chance (education distribution was significantly different). The sample was almost entirely White (49 of 50), limiting generalizability. This was a pilot designed to test feasibility and acceptance, not to establish efficacy. The authors explicitly state that a full-scale randomized trial is needed. Only 10 sessions were delivered, so the durability of gains beyond 3 months is unknown. The primary outcome is self-rated goal performance, which is subjective and susceptible to expectation effects, though participants were blinded to group.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the larger improvement in the metacognitive group as proof the approach works. This was a pilot trial not designed to test efficacy, 30 of the 60 participants were assigned by therapist availability rather than randomization, and the authors themselves call for a full-scale randomized trial before drawing conclusions about treatment effect.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →